Eastleigh Borough Council Airport Consultative Committee Meeting

RESOLVED –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 7 October 2022 be agreed as a correct record.

The Operations Director reported that:

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

·  Passenger numbers had continued to increase with passenger numbers for 2023 forecast at 850k.

·  Marlhill Copse Planning appeal was lost and now looking at next steps. Will come back with an update.

·  The British Safety Council awarded the Airport a Distinction at the International Safety Awards, a 5 star safety award and a Sword of Honour.

·  The Operations Director was proud to announce the work they had been doing with local Schools and Universities.

An update was given on the Airport runway extension. The main works will be commencing at the beginning of April. The airport was currently working with Eastleigh Borough Council to carry out assessments on the conditions that were agreed. A lot of work has been undertaken on the Section 106. The majority of the work will not come into effect until 2024 once the construction has been completed.

The Airport presented the number of helicopter movements and training flights between June and September. Over the 4 months, 113 complaints from 26 households had been received with the majority of complaints from the Bitterne Park area.

The Noise Action Plan has now been submitted to the Secretary of State and waiting approval.

Councillor Savage raised concerns that the link to complain about noise was hidden and requested that it was made clearer on the website.

The Airspace Change timeline was presented and the stages were explained to the Committee.

Councillor Susan Cook asked if the consultation will be opened up to wider areas.

The Operations Director gave the Committee an update on Jet Zero and summarised the Government aim to achieve net zero aviation by 2050. Hyperlinks with further information were included in the slides that have been appended to the minutes.

Councillor Savage asked what was being put in place to help reduce noise. The Operations Director will come back to a future meeting with further information on noise reduction measures.

Stuart Baker, Solent LEP, offered to attend a future meeting to provide an update on Solent Cluster.

The Accessibility Forum met on 21 October 2022 with the next meeting planned for 28 April 2023.

Councillor Asman was appointed as Chair to the Forum and new attendees were welcome to attend.

Winchester Area Access for All carried out a passenger experience audit. The proposed recommendations have now been implemented at the Airport.

Open Site Eastleigh attended the Airport on 19 January and made other useful suggestions.

Councillor Irish suggested that Solent Mind were contacted to see if they wanted to be included in the Forum. Lisa Hayes suggested Carers in Southampton.

The Technical Working Group met on 13 January 2023 and discussed the agenda items for this meeting.

It was agreed that the next meeting will take place on Friday 23 June 2023 at 2pm in the Otter Meeting Room at Lakeside Country Park.