Minutes of the External Advisory Group, 30 June 2008

Attendees: Jonathan Moor (Chair) - DfT Nigel Milton - Virgin , Martin Capstick - DfT Jonathan Bailey - MAG,, John Parkinson - DfT Stuart Condie – BAA,Lucy Gordon – DfT Roger Wiltshire – BATA, Helen MacSherry – DfT Karen Dee - CBI, Chola Mukanga - DfT Ken Crawford - SE, Sara Harrison – DfT Nic Ferriday - FoE , Sarah Weston - DfT, Mike Carrivick – BAR-UK Brian Corbett - DfT , Kathryn Sayers - BA , Tim Johnson – AEF, Robert Siddall – AOA , Anna Mahoney – SASIG, Simon Evans – AUC, Andrew Lee - SDC, Sarah Samuel - SDC, Harriet Festing - SDC

Apologies: Eddie Redfern – TUI / Charter Airlines Group, Danny Pedri – DHL, Andrew Hemmings – Welsh Assembly, Keith Walsh – Northern Ireland

Introduction and Update on Progress

Jonathan Moor, DfT Director of Airports Strategy, welcomed everyone to the twelfth meeting of the External Advisory Group (EAG). The minutes of the February meeting were agreed, subject to an outstanding comment on the minutes of the October meeting which the DfT agreed to update, inviting the Group to provide any further comments by 18 th July. The finalised minutes would be placed on the DfT website.

Jonathan Moor went on to update the Group on progress in delivering key milestones since the last meeting in February, including: BAA’s submission of a planning application for a second runway at Stansted in March 2008; the new ATOL (Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing) Protection Contribution which replaced the former ATOL bonding arrangements from 1 April 2008; an agreed deal on the inclusion of aviation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme which had been reached on 26 June; and the Secretary of State’s announcement of a Review of the Economic Regulation of Airports.

Helen MacSherry, DfT Airspace Policy Advisor, also updated the Group on the recent NATS consultation on TC North and the UK/Ireland Functional Airspace Block, which was the first to be set up in Europe and would ‘go live’ in July 2008.

Air Transport White Paper Evaluation Strategy Implementation

Chola Mukanga, DfT Aviation Economic Advisor, presented the DfT's proposals for taking forward the Evaluation Strategy of the Air Transport White Paper (ATWP). These proposals had been briefly presented at the previous meeting, but due to lack of time the Group had agreed to come back to this issue for further consideration.

Chola Mukanga outlined the priority areas for evaluation which the DfT had identified, based on an evaluation framework produced for the DfT by consultants and published on the DfT’s website in November 2007. The DfT’s proposed priorities were: the impact of publishing the ATWP; improving surface access; airport master plans; non-statutory compensation; and noise mitigation. The Group was invited to give their views on these suggested priorities for evaluation.

Some members suggested that several of the policy areas which the DfT had identified as being high priority but not yet ready for evaluation - for example, emissions trading and local air quality - should in fact be included in the evaluation at this stage. It was pointed out that, although the deal on including aviation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme had just been agreed, it might be possible to evaluate current assumptions about the role of ETS as a mechanism for tackling aviation CO2 emissions, compared to the assumptions made at the time of the ATWP. Advancing evaluation of environmental measures would also reflect the high public profile of these issues. Some members also suggested that the evaluation’s remit could be broader than the ATWP policies to include good practices and measures that had been developed after the ATWP.

The Department agreed to reflect on the views expressed by the Group and invited members to provide any further comments by 18th July. Chola Mukanga would then report back at the next EAG meeting on plans to take forward the evaluation.

Sustainable Development Commission Report ‘Breaking the Holding Pattern’

Harriet Festing, SDC Director of Engagement and Communications, gave an overview of an SDC report on aviation policy. This had been produced following a stakeholder dialogue process, though the report represented the SDC’s recommendations rather than a consensus of that dialogue process. Harriet Festing said the report explained that aviation was a highly contested area. Since 2003, public awareness of climate change and its causes had continued to grow, and there had been a particular focus on aviation. This had led to an increasingly polarised debate with some campaign groups calling for an end to all aviation growth, while others maintained that airport expansion was essential not just to meet increasing demand but to maintain a strong economy.

The SDC report said that people disagreed on the basic facts and figures on aviation, including those underpinning the Government’s Air Transport White Paper, which could risk delaying decisions and undermining public and business confidence in the ATWP policy. The SDC report recommended that an independent enquiry should be undertaken to review UK aviation policy, build trust, and encourage dialogue with the public; this information should then be used to review the ATWP and inform the development of a National Policy Statement on airports.

Following the presentation, Martin Capstick, DfT Head of Aviation Environmental Division, expressed his appreciation to the SDC for the work they had carried out, and explained that the DfT was interested in promoting debate on aviation, but that careful consideration needed to be given to the form and remit of any debate, as the Government remained committed to delivering the policy set out in the ATWP.

The Group expressed a spectrum of views in response to the SDC’s report. Some members said that aviation policy could not be put on hold, that an extensive debate had already been had leading up to the ATWP and the priority should be delivery of that policy. Another view expressed was that the evidence on aviation was not sufficiently understood by some people, and greater clarity and transparency were needed. It was also suggested that, although continued dialogue would be useful, its objectives and remit needed to be clearly defined to ensure any worthwhile output, and it should include all relevant government departments. There seemed to be general agreement in the Group on the desirability of good stakeholder relationships for taking forward aviation policy, but also recognition that there was no realistic prospect of finding common ground on aviation policy among all stakeholders; the problem was not so much the basic facts, but that people had very different interpretations of their implications.

John Parkinson thanked Harriet Festing and the SDC for presenting to the Group and to members for the useful discussion.