Category: Information Library

A question of trust

Despite the efforts of Heathrow to be more straightforward and transparent in recent years, there is still as huge legacy of distrust.  The almost universal reaction by people – at least those communicating with HACAN  –  to the list of conditions imposed by the Airports Commission accompanying its recommendation of a third runway has been that Heathrow cannot be trusted to fulfil them.  They point to this letter, written almost 20 years ago, where the then CEO of Heathrow said explicitly that the airport did not want a third runway:  BAA 1999 letter to resident.  Overcoming this trust deficit is possibly the biggest challenge Heathrow faces. 

HACAN backs Frequent Flyers Levy to replace Air Passenger Duty as “both green and equitable”

Press Release

 21st June 2015 for immediate use

 HACAN backs Frequent Flyers Levy to replace Air Passenger Duty as “both green and equitable”

Campaign group HACAN has given its backing to the plan for a Frequent Flyers Levy to replace Air Passengers Duty.  The proposal, released this weekend (1) and based on reports from the New Economics Foundation and CE Delft (2), suggests that each person is given one tax-free flight a year (if they want to take it) but that the tax rises with every subsequent flight taken (3).

Just days before the Airports Commission is due to publish its recommendation on whether a new runway should be built at Heathrow or Gatwick, the New Economics Foundation report suggests that no new runways would be needed if a Frequent Flyers Levy was introduced.  The growth in aviation would be curbed sufficiently to allow existing runways to cope with future demand.

The backers of the Frequent Flyers Levy argue that 85% of the British public would benefit from it:  Last year:

  • 52% of us took no flights
  • 22% took one flight
  • 11% took 2 flights
  • Less than 15% of people took 3 or more flights

15% of people took 70% of flights.  These are the people identified as the frequent flyers. Their defining characteristics are that they earn more than £115,000 a year and have a second home abroad. Most of them come from the City of London, Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Surrey.  And their most popular destination is tax havens!  These are predominately not business flights.  Business travel by the UK population is declining.  It is now just 12% of all flights.  It is leisure travel, particularly by the frequent flyers, which has soared.

Work commissioned from the Public Interest Research Centre (PIRC) found that over 50% preferred the Frequent Flyers Levy to Air Passenger Duty

HACAN chair John Stewart said, “The beauty of this proposal is that it ticks both the equity and green boxes. It is a way of controlling the growth of aviation but still allowing ordinary families a holiday in the sun.”

Organisations backing the Frequent Flyers Levy include the Campaign for Better Transport the New Economics Foundation, the Tax Justice Network, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.

ENDS

 Notes for Editors: 

 (1). http://gu.com/p/4axmn/stw 

(2).  The New Economics Report covering the economics: FFL FINAL DRAFT in template_updated  and the CE Delft report covering the implementation:  Proposal for a Frequent Flyer Levy unformatted_June 5th

(3). More information Frequent Flyers Levy Briefing    or http://blog.afreeride.org/faqs/

For further information:

John Stewart on 0207 737 6641 or 07957385650

HACAN response to the Airports Commission’s Air Pollution Consultation

HACAN argues in its response to the Airport Commissions consultation on Air Pollution that it has failed to show beyond doubt that air pollution limits around Heathrow can stay within within the EU legal limits if a third runway were to be built.  Response submitted on 28th May 2015.

Read the full response:  Airports Commission air pollution consultation

Airports Commission Air Pollution Consultation

The Airports Commission has released a short consultation on air pollution, with  29th May deadline.  The consultation documents can be found on the Commission’s website:  https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/airports-commission-air-quality-assessment

This is a technical consultation assessing  future air pollution levels around Heathrow and Gatwick if new runways are built.

It is unlikely that this consultation was prompted by the recent Supreme Court ruling that required the Government to draw up plans by the end of the year on how it was going to meet the EU legal limits on air pollution (across the UK).  The Airports Commission, under Sir Howard Davies, always intended to do this work.

The legal limits came into force in 2010 under the terms of the EU Air Pollution Directive but the EU has not taken action against breaches of them because no member state has been able to meet the targets.  So the Commission is now asking member states to outline plans on how they intend to meet the targets but without having set a new date.

During the last consultation the Airports Commission carried out, it said it was going to do more work on air pollution, particularly on how pollution levels might disperse.  This is critical because the predictions were that by 2030 (when any new runway would be up and running) there might still be pockets around the airport that would be over the EU legal limits.  Dispersal could potentially spread the pollution more thinly so that no area remained above the limits.

The Airports Commission commissioned the consultancy firm, Jacobs, to do the work on dispersal.  Jacobs has found that by 2030 there will be a problem in small areas close to the Bath Road (very close to the airport) if no mitigation measures have been put in place.  The problem would be a little worse from the Heathrow Hub scheme that with the Heathrow Airport’s 3rd runway scheme.  But it expects the problem to be resolved within a few years.  Jacobs doesn’t appear to foresee a problem at Gatwick.

Jacobs then lists the mitigation schemes by Heathrow – things like encouraging airlines to shut down an engine during taxiing, the use of the extended runway to allow a proportion of the take-off emissions to be well away from the airport boundary and the introduction of congestion charging in the area.  But it doesn’t really analyse them.  Rather it tends to assumes that, with some mitigation, the levels will be below the EU legal limits in 2030.

There is one other point that it not addressed.  A new, if built, will not be running to capacity by 2030.  Jacobs doesn’t look at what air pollution levels will be when it is running to capacity.  It implies that with mitigation measures in place and, as aircraft become cleaner as the years go by, there should not be a problem.  But no detailed work has been done on this.

Community Noise Forum set up

Heathrow Airport has set up the Community Noise Forum.  It consists of representatives of the Airport, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), National Air Traffic Control (NATS), British Airways, local authorities, community organizations and campaign groups.  It was set up following the complaints received during the recent trials carried out by Heathrow and NATS.  In particular, it was hoped it could resolve the dispute between Heathrow and the communities where the trials took place that flight paths have or have not returned to their pre-trial pattern.  It is the reason why these communities and local authorities – largely to the west of the airport – are at present the main participants.  Local authorities and community organizations to the east of the airport are expected to be invited to join at a later stage, though HACAN, as the overall body, is on the Forum and does represent residents in these areas.

 Its first task will be to commission an independent study to look at the flight paths before the recent trials took, during the trials and post-trials.  The aim is to see whether flight paths post-trial have gone back to their pre-trial routes.  Many in the communities impacted – places like Ascot, Teddington, Englefield Green, Lightwater, Binfield and Bracknell, claim they have not.  Heathrow Airport claims they have.  The independent study will also look into whether any other changes had taken place. The steering group which will draw up the brief for the study and which will oversee it will be drawn entirely from community representatives of the areas where the trials took place. Heathrow has offered technical assistance and will pay for the study. The steering group will meet soon. It will report back to the Community Noise Forum.

 NATS explained to the Forum the change they made to some flight paths in June 2014 without telling anybody. It transpires that what happened was that, when easterly winds were blowing, around 20 aircraft a day departing on the Compton Route were moved north and concentrated over a 7 mile band covering places like Ascot, Bracknell and Binfield. Previously they had been spread across a 13 mile band which included areas to the south of these places.  It is not regarded as a major change and won’t be reversed.

There is a separate Noise Forum, on which HACAN also has a place along with a local authority representative and representatives from the industry, which doesn’t look at area-specific work but concentrates on more generic issues such as respite.

HACAN accuses Heathrow of abusing Airport Commission’s consultation process

Campaign group HACAN has accused Heathrow Airport of abusing the Airport Commission’s current consultation, which closes on February 3rd, by “flooding the Commission with thousands of pro-forma responses.” 

In a letter to Sir Howard Davies (see letter and full HACAN response below), the chair of the Commission, HACAN, has said that Heathrow has “strained every sinew of its advertising budget to try to persuade as many people as possible to email or write to the Commission that they want a third runway at Heathrow”.

In its consultation the Commission asked for comments on whether it had correctly assessed the proposals put forward for a new runway at Heathrow and a second runway at Gatwick.

HACAN chair John Stewart, said “This was a technical consultation.  What the Commission was not looking for was a flood of responses for or against a third runway.  Yet Heathrow even went as far as placing post boxes in its terminals for passengers to pop in their letters of support.   It is simply a side-show to the serious work the Commission is undertaking”.

Letter to Sir Howard: HACAN consultation letter to Sir Howard Davies

HACAN response to the Consultation: Response to the Airports Commission from HACAN January 2015 _2_