Action Briefing Dec 2005 - Jan 2006
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

Airport Update: Consultation or Imposition?

At the Birmingham International Airport Draft Masterplan Consultation meeting on Friday 18th November, it was hard not to feel as though the audience were invited just to learn and be told.

Before the meeting began chairman Peter Rayner said that although we could make our views known, he felt that the primary purpose of the exercise was to make sure we left with a better understanding of the expansion plans.

A substantial presentation followed, including a Mori poll that had been carried out on local residents. Unfortunately, nobody in the hall raised their hand to indicate that they had been involved in this poll, despite many living in the areas concerned. The conclusions of the poll were surprisingly favourable to the airport. Notably, it was dropped from the presentation given in Sheldon the following Monday.

Most attendees were concerned about the current and future impact of the airport’s plans on their house prices and quality of life. If the Board had hoped that tea and biscuits would have softened their resolve, they were mistaken. The airport has adopted a narrow definition of the areas affected by blight, and there is no compensation available for those who want to sell their home now and have seen a 15 per cent price drop since the airport scheme was first announced in 2002.

Climate change
I pointed out that according to the Tyndall report if aviation growth in this country continues unchecked, greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft will take up the entire UK emissions budget by 2037. This would mean that industry, homes, commerce, schools, hospitals etc. would have to reduce emissions to nothing if we were to stay within safe limits! Why wouldn’t the airport take the only responsible option and seek to manage demand within existing limits? Weren't forecasts based on oil at $25 a barrel useless anyway?

Predictably, the answer was not satisfactory. Richard Heard, Chief Executive, replied that the Airport company, through the International Civil Aviation Organisation, has requested that carbon dioxide emissions from aviation are integrated into the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (the only mention of climate in the Masterplan - paragraph 10.15). The rise in emissions will be so vast that offsetting them entirely through emissions trading is totally unrealistic, even if that is what the airport wanted. Phillip added that the "need" to increase capacity is no such thing: it’s a commercial interest. (Thanks to Chris, Roger and James who were also there.)

Get involved and stop the expansion!
According to the Masterplan, "the Airport Company is committed to promoting social inclusion through partnership with the various communities it serves". Partnership means more than being told of a plan and then being forgotten. So let them know - the period in which the Airport consult on the Masterplan runs until th end of March 2006.

Once all comments have been examined, a new adopted Masterplan will be published later in 2006. The Masterplan will not have any statutory status, but will inform the preparation of subsequent regional and local planning policies. It is most important, as pointed out by James Botham in the October-November '05 Action Briefing, that the Masterplan does not become part of a document with planning status. It must not form part of the Solihull Local Development Framework. If it does, when the actual planning applications arrive, the proposed developments will already be in the bones of the system.

Therefore pressure must be put on Solihull Council by large-scale public involvement in the planning process. The Solihull Core Strategy, which will come onstream in 2009, should open for public consultation in summer 2007 or before. This document will be of key importance. The latest Solihull Plan states in relation to aviation, "The demand can be provided for or it can be restricted". No local politician should be allowed to get away with suggesting otherwise; the airport expansion is not inevitable. Anyone concerned about noise, pollution, extra traffic or climate change would do well to make their views known.

For more information, go to www.bhx.co.uk, click 'Corporate', then 'Aviation White Paper', then 'Draft Masterplan Consultation'. See also www.solihull.gov.uk/planning/

Andrew Hanson