 |
Fact Sheets from the General Aviation Awareness Council Fact Sheet 4a - Safeguarding your flying site – The Background |
|
|
Fact Sheets from the General Aviation Awareness Council Fact Sheet 4a - Safeguarding your flying site – The Background |
|
Introduction
The expansion of development into green-field sites places pressure upon operational and potential
flying sites, resulting in an increasing need to protect the safety of their operating environment. This
protection, or ‘safeguarding’, has long been recognised by HM Government and the CAA, principally
in Directions made under the Town & Country Planning Act, renewed in 2003, and in CAA
publications. The CAA no longer safeguards any aerodromes: all aerodromes, licensed and
unlicensed, are now responsible for their own safeguarding. What is ‘safeguarding’ and does my site need it?
‘Safeguarding’ is a term used in UK aviation and planning circles to describe a process of controlling
the use of land so as to protect the airspace over and around an aerodrome in order to preserve the
safety and integrity of its flying operations. The need to protect an aerodrome’s airspace against the
indiscriminate erection of tall structures may be obvious, but safeguarding involves much more. For
example, what about that planned land-fill site, will it attract birds? Will the floodlights for that golf
driving-range off the end of the runway distract pilots? What about that mobile phone mast? Then
there are navigation aids (visual and electronic); they need protection too. The list is long and varied.
For any site established for flying operations it is clear that there needs to be a measure of
safeguarding protection in order to preserve safety.
Are all aerodromes equal?
As far as the need for safety, yes. However, the degree of support that is available from legislation
varies greatly.
There is legislation for England and Wales, and for Scotland that obliges Local Planning Authorities
(LPA) to refer planning applications that exceed certain criteria to the aerodrome for assessment,
but this only applies to about 40 licensed aerodromes in UK - called “officially safeguarded”. As the
reader is unlikely to operate one of these sites, we will not dwell on that end of the spectrum. It will
be the hundred or so other licensed aerodromes and the many unlicensed sites that we
shall address
- referred to as “non-officially safeguarded” in the legislation. Links to the Directions are given at the
end of this fact sheet. The Airports (Northern Ireland) Order 1994 does not specifically refer to “safeguarding”, but the measures that it covers give safeguarding protection by controlling the use of land close to airports. How does the legislation help? The safeguarding Directions are issued under the Town & Country Planning Act and say that non-officially safeguarded aerodromes (specifically including unlicensed aerodromes and sites) should: “ .....take steps to protect their locations from the effects of possible adverse development by establishing an agreed consultation procedure between themselves and the planning authority or authorities. One method, recommended by the CAA to aerodrome licensees, is to lodge a non-official safeguarding map with the local planning authority.” NB This is the advice of HM Government, supported by the CAA. From this it can be seen that the large majority of aviation sites in UK do not have the statutory right to demand safeguarding. However, with the encouragement of HM Government and the CAA from within the legislation, it is entirely reasonable for operators to try and establish a liaison with their LPA. The acknowledgement of a safeguarding map by the LPA is probably the best way to ensure that the aerodrome’s interests are noted. It will define the area within which the LPA should check any pertinent development with the operator. It is also helpful to establish the local GA interests in the ‘Statement of Community Involvement’. What publications can help me?
It is recommended that you have access to three civil air publications (CAP), all of which are available to download free from the CAA website (see the link at the end): CAP 428 Safety Standards at Unlicensed Aerodromes CAP 738 Safeguarding of Aerodromes CAP 168 Licensing of Aerodromes If yours is an unlicensed site then CAP 428 should be familiar to you. It has a section (3) on safeguarding, in which it refers to the advice given in CAP 738. While CAP 738 is primarily for the use of licensed aerodromes, it suggests that it can be used by unlicensed sites as well. To do so requires a knowledge of the safeguarding parameters laid down in CAP 168. Where can I get further advice? Advice about what the operator can do to protect his site is given in Fact Sheet 4b. The main subjects are covered, and, although space precludes detailed explanations, you should be pointed in the right direction. Fact Sheet prepared by R J C Vousden AFRIN MRAeS, August 2007 Airfield Safeguarding & Development LINKS (Current at time of publication) Legislation England & Wales http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/aviation/safety/safeguarding/safeguardingaerodromestechni2988 Scotland http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/planning/pcsa-02.asp Northern Ireland http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1994/Uksa_19940426_en_1.htm CAA Publications Aerodromes (list) http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?categoryid=33&pagetype=65&applicationid=11&mode=list&type=subcat&id=3
Wind Turbine Policy & Guidelines.
CAP 764
CAA/AOA/GAAC Leaflets
http://www.aoa.org.uk/publications/safeguarding.asp Safeguarding Specialist Airfield Safeguarding & Development www.airfield-safeguarding.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
General Aviation Awareness Council RAeS House, 4 Hamilton Place, London W1J 7BQ. Tel: +44 (0)20 7670 4501
This is one of a series of Fact Sheets available from the GAAC. For further information please contact the above address. |
Click here for this
page in Acrobat format
|