Issue - meetings

Report DRR16/057

Biggin Hill Airport Ltd (BHAL) had responded to the various conditions stipulated by the Council before its operating hours could be varied.

Following the Executive meeting on 25^th November 2015 discussions with BHAL on the Council’s conditions and BHAL’s response focussed on:

·  the Noise Action Plan (NAP) which had not altered since last referred to the Executive;

·  a Management Information Letter (MIL) on how BHAL would implement and manage the NAP including, where appropriate, BHAL’s response to the Council’s conditions, including the six additional conditions agreed by Executive on 25^th November 2015; and

·  a Deed of Variation which, subject to the agreement of the Council/BHAL, would incorporate the approved changes to the operating hours into the lease.

Copies of the above documents were appended to Report DRR16/057. The NAP and MIL would be appended to the Deed of Variation and enforceable under the lease of Biggin Hill Airport.

Members were recommended to confirm that the Council’s conditions had been met, to agree that the Deed of Variation be entered into, and to agree that any sum received to reimburse the Council its costs be ring-fenced for any future costs of increased monitoring. 

In response to a concern at the Executive and Resources PDS Committee meeting, 8^th June 2016, on what might happen under the new arrangements should helicopters not rise to 1000ft (helicopters follow flight paths set down by NATS/CAA), it was explained that a mandatory condition to do so could be detrimental to health and safety and the safety of the airport (there was no authority to override Air Traffic Control instructions which might vary daily for any number of reasons). BHAL would, however, look to enforce helicopters rising to 1000ft where practical. It was also suggested at the PDS meeting that the Safety and Noise Review Board (SANARB) should include independent representation and it was confirmed that BHAL had agreed to the Board’s membership including a resident observer.

The MIL would be incorporated in the Deed of Variation and would be enforceable as such. Should the cap of 50,000 annual movements appear likely to be breached (or was breached) in the first five years of the NAP, the NAP would be reviewed and the Council could suspend the extended hours pending completion of the review. Member endorsement would be needed to implement the outcome of any such review and to implement the outcome of a review after five years.

Monitoring would be undertaken as part of the lease agreement and the sum received from BHAL to reimburse the Council its costs related to the application (up to approximately £160k excluding officer time) would be ring-fenced to supplement existing resources and ensure robust monitoring. Leading state of the art monitoring equipment would be used and regular reports would be expected back to the Executive. A robust set of arrangements were in place and the NAP also outlined information that would be provided to the Airport Consultative Committee (ACC) each quarter including a report on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26