Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Tony Owen – Councillor Douglas Auld attended as his substitute. Apologies were also received from Councillor Melanie Stevens, Biggin Hill Ward Councillor.

There were no declarations of interest.

Report CSD16010

At a special meeting on 25^th November 2015, the Executive had considered a report on Biggin Hill Airport Limited’s (BHAL) proposal to vary the operating hours of the Airport. The Executive had decided, following a recommendation from a special full Council meeting earlier the same night, to agree the proposal, subject to various concessions, conditions and obligations.

On 10^th December 2015, notice of a call-in was received from Councillors Tony Owen, Douglas Auld, Eric Bosshard, Simon Fawthrop, Charles Joel, Russell Mellor, Alexa Michael, Keith Onslow, Angela Page, Chris Pierce, Richard Scoates and Tim Stevens J.P. The reasons given for the call-in were as follows –

“We believe that, at best, the decisions are premature and, at worst, misguided. Some of the reasons for the call in are:-

 1. Non determination of all 18 recommendations (Who made the decision, in the last 48 hours before the special council meeting, that all 18 recommendations had reached an acceptable position on all counts?).

2. Scrapping the 50,000 cap (supposedly the centrepiece of negotiations).

3. Business, development and employment plans are not convincing.

4. There is no risk assessment of potential infrastructure support costs and other matters.

5. The adverse effect of the proposed additional hours has not been assessed properly. 

Insufficient weight was given to the legal opinion of Reuben Taylor QC, a barrister experienced in airport environmental issues, and Stephen Turner, a noise and airport consultant with exceptional knowledge, experience and qualifications.

6. The decision making process has not been transparent and is seen by local residents as heavily biased against them. 

Apparently negotiation boiled down to 3 meetings between the Executive and BHAL senior management, one of which was a demonstration, and 3 meetings (one being the same demonstration) and 2 conference calls between the LBB team, led by Marc Hume, and BHAL senior management. According to the Leader and the Chief Legal Officer there are no minutes in existence for any of these meetings.”

The two options before a PDS Committee when considering a call-in were –

(i) to take no further action on the call-in; or

(ii) to refer the decision back to the Executive giving reasons why it should be re-considered.

Before the debate on this item started, the Chairman responded to a question about whether he should chair the meeting as he had taken such a firm stand on the issues in recent months and was a signatory to the call-in. The Chairman stated that he would be careful to be fair to all parties and that it was his intention to continue to chair the meeting. 

As the lead signatory to the call-in, Cllr Tony Owen, was absent, the Chairman invited Cllr Douglas Auld to read a statement on Cllr Owen’s behalf. In the statement, Cllr Owen stated that the decision on BHAL’s application was the first since he had been elected where he was totally perplexed, as he felt that the environmental protection enjoyed by tens of thousands of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 241.