LONDONSOUTHENDAIRPORT

Minutes of meeting No. 72of the Consultative Committee

held on Wednesday, 16November 2011 at 2pm.

Present: Stuart GreengrassChairman

David OsbornVice-Chairman

Alastair Welch Airport Managing Director (AMD)

Jo MarchettiCommunity Affairs Co-ordinator, SouthendAirport

Councillor Peter Ashley Southend on Sea Borough Council

Councillor Peter ElliottMaldon District Council

Richard EvansRochford District Council (Officer)

Councillor Heather GlynnRochford District Council

Norah Goodman Eastwood & St. Laurence ResidentsAssociation

Councillor Ray HowardEssexCounty Council

Councillor John LambSouthend on Sea Borough Council

Councillor Vic LeachRochford Hundred Association of Parish Councils

Councillor Graham LongleySouthend on Sea Borough Council

Councillor Alf Partridge Castle Point Borough Council

Keith RossIpeco Holdings

Les SawyerWest Leigh Residents Association

Ron Smithson Flying Clubs

Councillor Mike SteptoeRochford District Council

Derry Thorpe Southend Trades Council

George Crowe Secretary

*substitute

  1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received fromCouncillor Pam Challis (Director, Thames Gateway), Councillor Cliff Passmore (Leigh on Sea Town Council), Councillor Roy Pearson (Essex County Council). They were also received from Andrew Meddle (Southend on Sea Borough Council, Officer), Shaun Scrutton (Rochford District Council, Officer) and (Sallyanne Thallon(Essex County Council, Officer).

It was noted that Sallyanne Thallon now had moved to a different role at Essex County Council and would no longer be attending meetings of this Committee. The Secretary was asked to write to her to thank her for her assistance to the Airport and for her contributions to the Committee. Action: Secretary

2.CHAIRMAN’S OPENING REMARKS

The Chairman welcomed members to the meeting. He commented that the national news politically and economically was bad and that there was a need for stimulus to the economy. He referred to the speed at which developments were taking place at the Airport and said that, locally the required stimulus was being provided by Southend Airport. He said that it was good to see private sector investment that was creating jobs. He also referred to the strength of other companies at the Airport and particularly mentioned ATC Lasham and Ipeco in this respect.

Councillor Howard said that he had visited the new container quay at the London Gateway deep-water port at Shell Haven. He said that a huge new island had been created there and he hoped that there would be a spin-off for Southend Airport.

  1. MEMBERSHIP

The Committee was sad to learn of the death of Tony Humphries in September. He had been a representative of Rayleigh Town Council on the Committee since 2005 and the Secretary was asked to write a letter of condolence to his family. To date, Rayleigh Town Council had not appointed a replacement representative.

Action: Secretary

4.MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING

The minutes of the meeting held on 17August 2011 that had previously been circulated were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

5.MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

Passenger terminal building(minute 5(d) refers)

The Airport Managing Director reported that the opening dateof the new passenger terminal building had not changed but that the handover had been deferred for two weeks due to problems with the baggage system. The visit to the terminal that was to have taken place today would take place prior to the next meeting at 1pm. Action: AMD/Secretary

6.AIRPORT MANAGING DIRECTOR’S REPORT

The Committee receivedthe AMD’s report for May to Julythat had been previously circulated with the agenda.

(a)Performance

Total aviation movements / August / September / October / Total
2010/11 / 2,541 / 2,579 / 2,681 / 7,801
2009/10 / 3,374 / 3,197 / 2,837 / 9,408
Commercial mvts 2010/2011 / 279 / 279 / 304 / 862
Commercial mvts 2009/2010 / 208 / 213 / 188 / 609

(b)Overview

The report advised that, whilst current trading remained very tough, work to prepare for the future continued apace. Development work was progressing well and the recruitment of new staff was well advanced.

Sales of easyJet tickets continued to progress well and the company was happy with how things were going. 20 of their senior managers were visiting the Airport the following day and would be staying overnight in Southend.

The overview also mentioned the runway invasion by members of ‘Plane Stupid’ that had occurred on the morning of 30 October. The AMD advised that,following reports of suspicious activities in the area, the runway had been closed in advance and the police had been called. 15 arrests had been made and none of the people arrested was from Essex. They were not permitted to re-enter Essex until 30 November (when they were next to appear in court).

This had reinforced the importance of addressing the security risk from footpath 36 which crossed the airport taxiway. Essex County Council would support the closure of the footpath and the Secretary of State could agree to close it for security reasons. The AMD was planning to arrange a meeting involving the Department for Transport (DfT), Essex County Council and Rochford District Council about the issue. He also intended to approach the local MPs if the DfT did not respond to the request for a meeting reasonably quickly.

In answer to a question from Councillor Ashley the AMD advised that a survey had been carried out over a two-week period in the summer and there had been only one user of the footpath in that time. This had been a person who had come to take a photograph of an aircraft.

(c)Noise

Attached to the AMD’s report was the Noise Comments Report and the Committee noted that a total of 230 noise comments were received during the period July – September 2011. Of these 230 comments, 223 related to Southend movements. Inthe same period in 2010, 123 comments had beenmade, 118 of which were related to Southend movements. 9(4%) of the noise comments submitted during the period related to movements at night.

One person had submitted 204 comments (89%) during the three month period. Of these 204 comments, not one of the movements was found to have been doing anything either inappropriate or outside the Airport’s control framework. In answer to questions, the Committee was informed that allof these 204 comments related to daytime movements. It was agreed that the Committee would again consider at its next meeting whether the complainant should be told that he was being unreasonable and that his complaints would no longer receive a response. Currently, all comments continued to be investigated and receive an individual response. Action: Secretary

Jo Marchetti reported that two of the 223 comments had been recent complaints about two Aer Arann aircraft approaches. They had been standard approaches but the complainant had not been happy with the responses. She had offered to bring the matter to this Committee and the complainant to clarify his complaints. The Committee considered whether to authorise the Chairman to deal with the complaints when they had been clarified and it was agreed that it would consider them at its next meeting.

Action: Secretary

7.PLANNING ISSUES

The AMD’s report updated members on progress with phase 1 (control tower and railway station, etc.) and phase 2 (passenger terminal, runway extension and hotel) of the Airport development programme.

(a)Railway Station and new airport car park –The official opening of the rail station in September had been very well attended and the AMD was very pleased to see the Minister, Theresa Villiers, take the time to attend. He thanked the members of the Committee who had attended the opening. The station development was now all butcomplete with the catering unit due to be fitted out shortly.

(b) New Passenger Terminal-The terminal was on target to be opened between 20 February and 1 March 2012. Following the addition of some further requirements to improve the passenger experience, the building was scheduled for handover in November. The building was almost completedand the baggage system and security search area had been installed and fitted out. Retail fit-out would take place in January 2012. The AMD advised that the Airport‘s aim was that the standard of customer service would be good and that passing through security would take no more than 4 minutesand that passengers would be able to be off the aircraft and at the railway station in 15 minutes. In response to a question from Les Sawyer, the AMD advised that leading edge security equipment was being installed.

The Airport was currently considering an application to Rochford Council for an extension to the new terminal. This had been assumed as part of the environmental assessment of the runway planning application and would be important in ensuring that customer service levels could be maintained as passenger numbers grow.

(c)Runway extension – The road diversion had opened on 1 September and the old section of road closed. Feedback on the road had been very positiveand the bus timetable had not needed to be changed. Bus passenger numbers had held up.

The new play area in the park had been well receivedand was better used now that it was lit at night from the new road. In response to a comment from Nora Goodman, the AMD advised that the street lighting had to be low due to the proximity of the Airport.

Some members commented about the layout of the approaches to and the new roundabout in Nestuda Way and the AMD advised that the highways engineers had decided that it would be unsafe for vehicles turning left from the A127 to be able to cross to the right-hand lane.

A hearing into the stopping up of a footpath had taken place the previous week and the result was awaited.

The new church car park was in place and the wall had been relocated. Work was underway on the runway extension and the hard paving completed. New airfield navigational aids were almost all installed. Civil engineering work was scheduled to be completed prior to Christmas. The runway was planned to be opened in the first quarter of 2012 allowing a month before easyJet would start the services from the Airport on 1 April. The opening would follow an exhaustive approval process from the CAA. Flight testing was taking place that day to enable the instruments to be calibrated.

(d)Hotel–The Committee was informed that Hotel construction was proceeding according to programme. It was to be a Holiday Inn and would open in July 2012. The AMD was excited about the standard that this would set for accommodation in the area.

Consultation arrangements with local residents were outlined and the AMD advised that feedback was positive.

(e)Radar - The AMD advised that the new radar was erected and would be in use in Spring 2012, following an extended period of testing. The Committee was informed that the main dish was the primary radar and would judge distance. The second dish would provide other information including aircraft altitudes and would enable checks to be made to ascertain that aircraft were complying with the Airports control framework. The noise and tracking system was also being installed and one of the three monitors would be sited at Blenheim School.

(f)Airside ramp building and car parking - A new ramp building with office space was being planned together with additional car parking to ensure that there would always be a space available on the Airport to minimise parking in surrounding streets.

8.INWARD INVESTMENT, EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING

Included in the AMD’s report was information relating to inward investment, employment and training.

(a)Inward Investment

Members noted thatthe level of investment in the Airport continued at an historic high. Work was being awarded to local companies in areas from landscaping to provision of road signs and fencing to road laying. Investment continued at over £2m per month.

Meetings had been held with a number of organisations in the past three months who were considering a move to the area specifically because the Airport would have links to places with which they do business.

(b)Employment and Training

It was noted that staff recruitment was well underway and that the Airport had been working with the local job centre network and South East Essex College on the latest recruitment drive. New staff had been recruited for the HR, Finance, Operations, ATC, Customer Service, Technical Services and Facilities teams in the past three months and a further 100 staff would be recruiteddirectly during the next quarter.

In addition, recruitment had started for the Hotel and for the food outlets in the terminal. The General Manager of the Hotel currently lived in Rochford.

EasyJet’s recruitment was progressing well and over 500 more staff would be working at the Airport in summer 2012 than in summer 2011.

The AMD advised that discussions would be made with local bus companies, etc., about the possibility of setting up concessions for staff.

9.NEW AIRPORT CONTROLS AND THEIR ENFORCEMENT

Referring to minute 8 (18 August 2010), a paper by the AMD was tabled. It reminded the Committee that permission to extend the runway had been accompanied by a Section 106 agreement signed by Essex County Council, Rochford District Council and Southend Borough Council. It contained a number of conditions and controls on how many of the Airport’s activities would be governed in future.

It was proposed to vary the Agreement to provide further controls and to put in place a mechanism for remedy in the event that the controls were exceeded. The mechanism had been approved by Southend Borough Council’s Planning Committee and was under consideration by the other signatories to the original Agreement.

One item within the variation was a requirement for this Committee to approve the way in which the Airport would monitor, manage and report on a number of matters. It was a requirement of the Agreement that the Committee must agree to it prior to the runway being allowed to open.

The paper set out proposals for the controls and reporting procedures, the scale of fines and the distribution of the fines levied.

The Scheme would be reviewed on an annual basis when the annual report was presented to this Committee.

In answer to questions the AMD advised that:

  • Southend Airport would have failed if the fund had money in it;
  • the terms and conditions for use of the Airport were clear for airlines. There was the requirement for them to comply with new noise controls;
  • that these particular controls were related to take-offs only;
  • other airports do not have this type of system;
  • fines must be consistent and they would be shared with the Committee when they were prepared;
  • if the number of movements exceeded the quota number, a reduction of the excess number would have to be made;
  • the Airport would attempt to ensure that the annual quota number was not exceeded by leaving some movements slots unused in any quota period to allow for unexpected movements;
  • diversions were mostly excluded from the quota.

There were no objections to the proposals and the Committee approved them. It asked for an update to the provided to its next meeting. Action: AMD/Secretary

10.PRESS PACK

The press pack of newspaper cuttings relating to the Airport was received and noted. Members commented on the excellent coverage in the local papers about the Airport.

Councillor Lamb asked how the Airport would be addressing the public relations issues relating to the trees required to be removed by the CAA. The AMD said that there was an ongoing programme of trimming trees on the take-off area and some of the trees could be dealt with in this manner. However, the advice was that if more than a third of the tree needed to be trimmed it would die. It was, therefore, the intention of the Airport to replace such trees on a two for one basis. Local residents would receive a leaflet about the matter. They media release would be issued as soon as possible afterwards.

11.COMMUNITY RELATIONS

The Airport Managing Director’s report advised that the new noise tracking system was well advanced and the monitors were currently going through the planning process in both Rochford and Southend.

A fun day had been held in the summer which coincided with the first birthday of Runway, a working dog purchased by the Airport Fundraising Committee. Ithad takenplace at Rankins Cricket Club which was sponsored by the Airport and had raised over £700 for this year’s chosen charity.

12.ANY OTHER BUSINESS

(a)Jetisfaction

Derry Thorpe asked about an item in the Evening Echo on 20 August 2011. The AMD advised that the launch of this airline had been postponed and that the Airport had held no commercial talks with the company. It was understood that Jetisfaction was refunding fares to prospective passengers.