Flightpath Watch
Holding the airport to account
In 2015 the airport was given a 24% increase in operating hours. Planes have got larger and the number of passengers has increased 10 fold in nine years.
Promises were made by the airport to secure the extra hours. Most of those promises have not been delivered.
Watch our video below
Our presentation to the Council’s Executive Resources & Contracts Policy Development & Scrutiny Committee on 10 October 2024 can be found here. Having delayed the meeting previously, it was disappointing that no representatives of the airport turned up to the meeting.
In the discussions, the 2021 NAP was mentioned: the airport believe it is complete and are looking to the 2026 NAP revisions; whilst the council say it is still under negotiation. Those negotiations are “ongoing” although there has been no meeting between the two sides since August. As a reminder the 50,000 cap on movements and the method of measuring noise are some of the matters under discussion.
The council also discussed the ACC. The Chairman noted that it was “merely a patsy for the airport” and was shocked at how that committee was run. Others noted that it was “shockingly out of kilter” with the government guidelines and was “really just a user committee”. The conclusion of one councillor was that “The airport is not prepared to engage on the noise issue”.
There was also discussion of the complaints process, especially concerning its speed and accuracy. Runway 03 Alternative Approach was mentioned with some hope the trial might get approval to start by the CAA before the end of the year: nine years after it was promised.
Other councillors mentioned concerns on air quality and helicopters over Keston. The councillor for Biggin Hill robustly defended the airport. A note of the meeting is provided below on the 25 October post.
To help improve engagement between airports and their local communities the Department for Transport issued Guidelines, in April 2014, for Airport Consultation Committees (ACCs). Biggin Hill ACC has wilfully altered the guidance to suit its own ends. It has excluded any resident groups less than 2 miles from the airport (that includes those under the flightpath in Crofton, Orpington and Petts Wood – in fact only 3 of 35 resident bodies are represented); it has limited the number of councillors who can attend (against the councils demands); it is run by a non-independent chairman; the Secretary is appointed by the airport; there is no public access; minutes of meetings take months to be produced and usually eliminate dissenting views.
We have written to the Minister of Aviation and the Minister of Transport to ask them to help rectify the deliberate departures from the DfT guidelines.
