March 2000 (Issue 20)
Edited by Jack Wells
Editorial
Wake Up — the Rest of You
Our Chairman recently attended the Examination
in Public of the Northamptonshire County Structure Plan in order to present
the case for aviation facilities in the county. He was appalled to find
that, apart from the well presented case for Sywell, GA interests were
poorly represented by comparison with the anti-aviation lobby who were
present in strength and had submitted many individually worded letters. As
the letters in support of GA were identically worded the Chairman had ruled
that they constituted one letter. Not surprising perhaps, but this latent
complacency must be overcome if GA’s voice is to be heard and heeded.
We will continue to do our best through these
columns and via our web site to put you on notice of the action that
associations and individuals must take if GA’s future is to be assured
Who is in the Left Hand Seat?
Who dictates when and how often you may fly?
We frequently hear
complaints about constraints imposed by the CAA or by air traffic
controllers. Yet how often do pilots ever think about the local planning
authority and its - often uninformed - involvement in aviation matters?
A major objective of the GAAC is to monitor,
advise and educate local authorities, but you can help locally too.
Aerodromes
Manton (Pegasus) Planning permission
has been granted retrospectively.
Lee-on-Solent Situation being
carefully monitored, but future still uncertain.
Rochester The newly formed
Rochester Airport plc has received considerable support from the PFA and the
GAAC. The company is making its own case for future activity at the
aerodrome.The fight continues later this year in the context of the local
plan inquiry.
Manston The economic study is
progressing within the framework of the DETR Appraisal for Airports in the
SE and Eastern Regions of England.
Weston-Super-Mare, Bristol and
Cardiff Plans to revive Weston are subject to review currently, but
there is a threat to the free movement of GA aircraft in the area from
proposals by Bristol and Cardiff to apply for a large extension to
controlled airspace. Ominously GA operators at Bristol have been told that
they should seek alternative sites.
Bryn Bach Park There is news of a
possible aerodrome at Bryn Bach Park in SE Wales. How would this fit in with
the expansionist airspace plans of Bristol and Cardiff?
Henstridge is reported to have
gone into receivership.
The EU
The European anti-aviation lobby is
raising the stakes again. It is reported that there is a move originating in
Germany for the EU to recognise that there is a need for no more than 500 GA
aerodromes across the whole of Europe. Another battle in prospect.
The Truro Saga - continued The
bizarre story continues, though hopefully with a satisfactory outcome...
The planning application for a hangar and
office has been granted subject to 32 conditions, one of which ties the
owner’s house to the airfield in case someone were to buy the house and
complain about the noise.
Thus the present situation is that there is a
licensed aerodrome with detailed planning permission for a 465m2 hangar plus
a 140m2 terminal building/clubhouse, for commercial use and flying training.
We congratulate Mr Irish for his perseverance
and wish him a less troubled future.
Policy Planning Guidance Note (PPG) 24 -
Noise
The Government is to review PPG 24. It is
essential that any measures to monitor aircraft noise are more soundly based
than those in the current version which lack objectivity. With this in mind
the GAAC has agreed to commission a study by a noise and vibration
specialist firm to provide more comprehensive procedures involving the
calculation of noise contours of total noise at several points. The
objective is to have the results embodied in a revised PPG 24.
The cost is likely to be just over £2,000 and
funds will have to be sought to cover this over and above the GAAC’s
normal donation income.
Any Offers?
Noise - A reminder to pilots
Noise reduction is the name of the game. You
can help to minimise complaints by following the guidelines on engine
handling set out in our publication ‘More Considerate Flying’. If you do
not have a copy obtain one from your flying club, from the GAAC office or
from our web site.
Planners Notes:
South Cambridgeshire District Council: Funding is being
sought to finance representation at the public inquiry into the SCDC Local
Plan which begins on 13 June and is expected to last about 5 weeks. A
successful outcome to this inquiry is essential as it is being watched
keenly by other councils interested in curbing GA activity.
Local Council Tax payers now have to bear the
costs incurred by the Council when they lost their case against Little
Gransden.
Development Plan Representations: A
review of GAAC planning work over the past 5 years shows that we have made
representations about more than 200 county, local and other plans, the
majority relating to structure and regional plans.
The effort devoted to this work has been
stepped up considerably over the past twelve months. This is evidenced by
the fact that while in 1998 the GAAC made representations about some 37
plans, four fifths of which related to Local and Structure Plans, in 1999
the total rose to 79. For the first time local transport plans came under
detailed scrutiny.
Local authority planners have used the absence
of a provision for aviation in a plan
to refuse permission for flying site applications. Hence the vigilance of
the GAAC over this whole area.
More details of the review appear on the GAAC
web site.
Schools Day 7 June
The GAAC, the BMFA and the PFA are supporting
the Schools Day being organised at Old Warden on Wednesday 7 June.
For further information on how you can help
this worthwhile project contact Betty Knight at Old Warden on 01767 627288.
GAAC Annual Meeting
Once again, thanks to the generosity of the
Society we shall be holding the GAAC AGM at the Royal Aeronautical Society’s
headquarters at 4 Hamilton Place, London W1. (Nearest underground station
Hyde Park Corner). It takes place at 2pm on Monday 3 April.
In addition to the formal business we have a
guest speaker, Richard Noble. He will be talking about the development of
the Farnborough F1 and the need to retain and develop small airfields as
these represent the immediate and probably the only future for high speed
point to point travel.
There will be the opportunity to raise any
relevant issues in general discussion.
All are welcome to attend, but please advise
the GAAC office if you intend to do so. See below.
Finance
First estimates of income and expenditure for
the year just ended suggest that we only just failed to break even. This
compares with a deficit of £4.5k last year. Without the sponsorship from
Cabair the deficit would have been higher than last year. The underlying
level of income was up slightly but expenditure was down significantly
because the reduction in expenditure on publications more than offset the
increase in expenditure on professional planning work. More emphasis is
being put on dissemination of information - including all our publications -
via the internet at gaac.co.uk.
Since the last Newsletter donations have been
received from: AOPA, the PFA, PFA Breckland Strut, PFA Gloster Strut, PFA
Mid-Kent Strut, Bagby Aerodrome, East Sussex Gliding Club, the DH Moth Club,
Pawnee Aviation, Portsmouth Naval Gliding Club, RMC Group Services, Thistle
Aviation, M Cadman and P R Gould.
Note: The GAAC has no fixed subscription and
is entirely dependent on your support. Unless you have already featured in
this year’s listing please send your 2000 donation to the GAAC office as
soon as possible.
We need your commitment NOW to enable us to
plan our work for the year.
GAAC Web Page
The new GAAC pages launched in September have
been regularly expanded and updated. A key feature is the wealth of material
that can be downloaded for general and school educational purposes.
A recent addition to the Education section is
a project for schools, an Education Pack for Key Stages 3 and 4 entitled ‘Where
Can Wildlife Survive?’ .
Let’s have some feedback from the Schools
that are pursuing this project.
Who may stop you from flying?
A message from the Chairman
Every pilot knows about - and often moans
about - the Civil Aviation Authority. Some pilots know something of the
Directorate of Airspace Policy, National Air Traffic Services, the Joint
Aviation Authorities and other agencies; yet how many realise that the
organisation most likely to inhibit their flying is not an aviation body at
all, but their local planning authority? Read on.
Every County Council must produce a County Structure Plan. This should
contain a policy on aviation, which in effect can dictate the extent of
permitted flying activity in the area. Many such policies are unduly
restrictive, while some counties have no policies, leading to the possible
refusal of any application for a flying operation. The General Aviation
Awareness Council constantly monitors Structure Plans at the draft stage
and, in several cases, improved aviation policies have been agreed.
In addition to Structure Plans, each District
in each County must produce a District Local Plan and this, too, should
incorporate an aviation policy, as should a County's Local Transport Plan.
If you are really determined that GA should receive a fair hearing, you can
make inputs to these, too.
The GAAC has, been involved in this subject,
but I am very concerned at the lack of interest or- concern among pilots and
aircraft owners. Recently I gave evidence at the Examination in Public (EIP)
for Northamptonshire Structure Plan and this confirmed yet again that GA has
its head in the sand. In this case, the County's proposed aviation policy
was quite reasonable and GAAC suggested only minor changes, but aviation's
opponents had written hundreds of letters of objection and at the EIP they
had engaged a Barrister to act as Counsel. Also, they produced their Member
of Parliament. Sywell Aerodrome presented a good case very effectively, but
there was no aviation input from individuals.
GAAC and the associations can have effective
inputs to Structure Plans, but still there is need for strength in numbers.
Please contact your County Council (or Unitary Authority if your county has
been dissolved) and discover whether the plan is at a consultation stage. If
so, check the draft proposals and if the aviation element is not good enough
- or even absent - send your objections and suggestions and let us know.
In writing to that Council timing may be
critical, for once agreed, a Structure Plan remains effective and
unalterable for five years.
If you fly, this does affect you. Aviation's
enemies take the trouble to write letters of objection in their hundreds.
Aviation's supporters barely emerge from the sand. If we hope for a healthy
future for GA, we must state our case effectively in the right places and at
the right time. There is strength in numbers.
Some Councils are very reasonable: others are
dreadful. So, forget the CAA or JAR-FCL just for the moment and fix your
attention on the organisation near you that may have an invisible knife
behind your back - the local authority. If necessary you can help to blunt
that knife. Check now.
David Ogilvy
February 2000
Make a note of the AGM
date. Hope to see you at the RAeS on 3 April.
General Aviation Awareness Council
British Light Aviation Centre
50A Cambridge Street
LONDON SW1V 4QQ
Telephone: 020 7834 5631
Fax: 020 7834 8623
E-mail: info@gaac.co.uk
Web Site: www.gaac.co.uk
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