Eastleigh Borough Council Airport Consultative Committee Meeting

RESOLVED –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 October 2023 be agreed as a correct record.

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd gave his report (appended to minutes), and reported that:

·  There had been no safety issues or incidents reported in the past four months.

·  Passenger numbers were forecast to be 1,026k for 2024.

·  EasyJet commenced Glasgow and Belfast routes, in addition to continuing Geneva (up to 24 flights per week).

·  BA operated a limited service to Bergerac over the Christmas period.

·  EasyJet announced Palma, Alicante, and Faro for summer 2024.

·  KLM would introduce a third daily rotation to Amsterdam at the end of March 2024.

John Lauwerys asked if, as per the evidence submitted through the planning stage for the runway extension, the airport would continue to run at a loss until passenger numbers reached 1.2 million.

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd confirmed this continued to be the case.

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd presented the report (appended to Item 109 of the minutes), and reported the number of helicopter movements, training flights, and Noise Preferred Routes Deviations over the last four months,

101 complaints from 28 households had been received, with the majority of complaints from the Bitterne Park area.

Cllr Cook queried whether KLM, and other airlines who deviate from the Noise Preferred Routes, would face fines in the future when legislation was in place.

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd confirmed that fines could be given once the legislation comes into effect.

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd presented the S106 update (appended to Item 109 of the minutes).

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd confirmed that the Noise Insulation Scheme was based on 60dcb averaged over a 16 hour period (between 7am and 11pm), and that the noise contours were calculated independently by the CAA, who then inform Southampton Airport if any households fall under the scheme. In 2023, no households qualified under the scheme, but he also mentioned that flight numbers were relatively low for that year.

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd mentioned there had been some confusion around how the data was reported, and that the airport would look to simplify how to quantify that data, and improve communications around the tool used to measure noise on the website (and how that differs to the way the Noise Insulation Scheme is calculated).

Councillor Savage mentioned that the text in the boxes on the tool could be difficult to read, and that the time and date doesn’t show when the tool is paused – making it difficult to find the noise footprint.

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd agreed to feed back to the relevant department to see if the tool could be tweaked.

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd presented Noise Action Plan (appended to Item 109 of the minutes).

Councillor Mintoff asked that members of the ACC be informed when the Annual Noise Report was published.

Councillor Savage queried whether the uptake on reporting noise had altered due to changes from emailed reports to an online form. He also mentioned that links to the complaints form were difficult to spot on the website.

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd agreed to report Councillor Savage’s concerns to see if the website could be tweaked to make the links clearer.

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd gave a brief update with regards to the Airspace Change timelines.

Councillor Asman introduced the item and asked the Committee to look at the special assistance section on Southampton Airport’s website for more information and guidance on what help is available.

Councillor Asman also asked that if anyone on the Committee was aware of charities or people who may like to join the Accessibility Forum, that they be directed to James Alderson at Southampton Airport.

The Chair raised concerns bought to him about blue badge holders (who are usually exempt for 30 minutes if dropped or collected by family and friends)  being charged parking fees when dropped off or picked up by taxi drivers (Hackney Carriage and Private Hire), because taxis do not qualify for the exemption despite carrying a passenger with a valid blue badge.

The Chair stated that he understood the concerns the airport had raised previously about fraudulent use of badges, but requested that the Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd discuss the concerns with the relevant departments at the airport and report back.

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd agreed to raise the concerns and report the outcome to the Committee.

The next meeting will take place on Friday 21 June 2024 at 2pm in the Oak Suite at The Holiday Inn, Eastleigh.

Will Durrant spoke to query how training flights are recorded, and whether they are reported as one movement or two.

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd provided the following answer to be included in the minutes:

An aircraft which carries out a LAG (Low Approach and Go around) will use the landing aids on approach and will skim the top of the runway without touching. This would be classed as a LAG and for NATS should be recorded as 2 movements but only the arrival would be counted by the aerodrome as it is using the airport landing aids then pulling back up on the way out of the manoeuvre.

An aircraft which carries out a TAG (Touch and Go ) would be counted as 2 movement as the aircraft has actually landed and then taken off to move onto their next circuit or depart for the airport they are operating from.

The same would also be for LVD (Land, Vacate and Depart) as this would use taxiway to then get back to a take-off point so that it can then depart using the runway.

Councillor Parker-Jones spoke to query how noise statistics around the insulation scheme are presented, and to confirm that, so far, no properties had qualified for insulation under the scheme – which people were finding alarming. She queried if communication could be changed so that it was easier for people to understand.

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd confirmed that currently no properties had qualified for the insulation scheme. This was to be discussed further under Item 5 on the agenda (S106 Update).

Councillor Pretty spoke to query why Hackney Carriage and licenced Private Hire vehicles were being charged to pick up and drop off passengers who held a blue badge. He stated that drivers felt they were being unfairly penalised and passengers discriminated against for using public transport instead of a friend or relative dropping/picking them up. Councillor Pretty requested that the Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd raise this with the relevant bodies at the airport to try to find a solution.

The Head of Planning and Development for AGS Airports Ltd agreed to follow up on Councillor Pretty’s comments.

Councillor Savage raised concerns that the Noise Forum had not met since May last year, and that the previous forum had been cancelled with very short notice. He also raised concerns that the 15 minutes allocated for non-committee members to speak had not been mentioned before, and that he felt it should either be a rule adhered to, or not, rather than a flexible rule.

Councillor Mintoff added that it would be helpful if Noise Forum members were kept in the loop of any changes at the first opportunity.

The Chair informed the ACC that a Noise Forum meeting had been scheduled for 10 April 2024. He also mentioned that the airport had appointed Gavin Williams as Operations Director (from 26 February 2024).

The Honorary Secretary to the ACC confirmed that the 15 minutes for non-committee members had always been a rule, as mentioned on the front page of the agenda and in the constitution , but that the Chair had discretion to bring non-members in at relevant items if their points were valid.