Examination of Witnesses (Questions 200
- 215)
TUESDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2004
MR JOHN
DEVINE AND
CLLR JOHN
KERR
Q200 Mr Pound: Is that a consistent
figure?
Mr Devine: It was a figure in
research carried out by the pollsters, MORI, for 2002. They carried
out a survey three days a week for 52 weeks. It was a fairly good
survey.
Q201 Mr Pound: Finally, we have heard
local community representatives speaking here today but, for the
record, could you tell us what form of consultative mechanism
you employed in consultation with the local community on possible
expansion plans?
Mr Devine: We have an Airport
Transport Forum and on that forum we have the village association.
Also, we have visited the towns around the area—Limavady,
Strabane and Donegal—and given presentations to the local
authorities. We have visited Chambers of Commerce and given presentations
to Chambers of Commerce. I suppose one of the most difficult things
we had to do was to meet with the families of the 17 homes that
are directly at the end of the runway and speak with them to tell
them what the plans are for the airport.
Cllr Kerr: We have afforded those
people who wish to come to the Airport Committee the right to
come and make their case to the Airport Committee and listen to
them, and that has happened. At any stage the Airport Committee
is quite willing to meet with anyone to talk about the airport
expansion.
Q202 Mr Pound: So the public meeting
in Derry that was referred to earlier on, that was called—
Cllr Kerr: That was called by
the City Council.
Q203 Mr Pound: That was called by
the Council, was it? I got the impression that it was called by
Mr O'Brien.
Mr Devine: There were a number
of meetings called by the residents' groups in the city and in
the village here but the council itself had a full special council
meeting to which it invited the public and local residents.
Cllr Kerr: When the consultants
finished their reports the council had a public meeting to explain
to all the residents and to the public what was in the consultants'
report.
Q204 Mr Pound: The Stop Eglinton
Airport Evictions Group has referred to two public meetings, one
locally and one in Derry.
Cllr Kerr: Yes.
Q205 Mr Pound: I think the figure
of several hundred people who were pretty unanimous was mentioned.
Those are the two meetings they called and you have called additional
meetings, have you?
Cllr Kerr: Yes.
Q206 Mr Pound: Is this an ongoing
process? Will you continue to do this?
Cllr Kerr: Yes. We would welcome
anyone who has a problem to come to the Airport Committee for
a hearing and to put their case. We have done that in the last
couple of months. There is that facility.
Q207 Chairman: Thank you. There are
two issues I want to clear up from earlier on. We heard some discrepancies
in terms of growth figures for the airport both in terms of what
the CAA were suggesting and what was on the council's website.
Which figures do you hold to? Which figures are correct?
Mr Devine: We are still in discussion
with the Civil Aviation Authority but we believe that they have
only published the figures of the shadow passenger routes and
have not included the figures for the business executive aircraft
that have operated.
Q208 Chairman: So those will be additional?
Mr Devine: Correct.
Q209 Chairman: The second question
is there was some comment made earlier on about alternatives to
runway positioning in terms of new runways and/or reconfiguration.
Would you have any comment at this stage on viability?
Mr Devine: We brought in a leading
aviation expert to examine the infrastructure that currently we
have and to take a look at what we are forecasting to need in
the next 15 years. At no stage would he have recommended going
to an alternative runway. The last runway built in the UK was
at Manchester Airport which only opened a few years ago. That
was the first major runway built since the wartime at a cost of
over £400 million. As you know, the great debate that is
coming in through the White Paper is where the next runway will
be built in the South East, whether it will be Stansted, Heathrow
or an upgraded taxiway at Gatwick, when the planning regulations
come in. Airports do not build runways lightly. Of course we have
looked at it from a technical aspect and from a costing aspect
and it would be a non-starter for the airport to build a parallel
runway replacing the existing runway affecting not only farmland
but other properties, to shift it from one set of properties to
another set of properties, when there is a perfectly good runway
there that does have the bearing strength and will not require
any future strengthening. It does have all the technical aspects,
it has the approach lighting, it has the instrumentation, but
what it does not have at the moment is the full safety overruns
which are required in the interests of public safety, not only
for the aircraft but for the people living on the ground. We have
a duty of care to the people who live in close proximity to the
airport. There are 17 families who live at the end of the runway
and if an aircraft overruns, I do not want to be the person who
appears at the coroner's inquiry to say why we did not have any
emergency overrun.
Q210 Chairman: I wonder if you can
help me with just one or two technical questions. How much longer
does runway 26 need to be extended for safety reasons?
Mr Devine: It does not need to
be extended for safety reasons. The safety improvements need to
be put on it for safety reasons. Even the physical length of runway
would remain as it is, but for safety reasons you build the overrun
areas beyond the end of the existing runway. The recommendation
from the technical people was not only do we have the existing
physical length of runway but that we make that physically longer
and that is a different argument.
Q211 Chairman: This picks up the
points that were made earlier about how much of the runway you
can currently use because of the obstructions.
Mr Devine: Yes.
Q212 Chairman: What is the distance
between the end of the west end of the runway and the displaced
threshold on runway 08?
Mr Devine: 122 metres.
Q213 Chairman: To accommodate the
overrun on 08, will you need to displace the threshold on 26?
Mr Devine: Displaced thresholds
are not a function of overruns. Displaced thresholds are a function
of the approach surface. If you can imagine an aircraft coming
into land—I hate to wave my arms around—it has to
aim at a point on the runway which provides it with a clear approach
path. If you have not got that clear approach path then you have
to displace the threshold up the runway and say to the pilot,
"You must aim at that point as opposed to aiming at the start
of the tarmac".
Q214 Chairman: Gentlemen, as we have
done with other witnesses, we do give you the opportunity to answer
all those questions we have not asked you, if you see what I mean.
Are there any other points that you wish to put to the Committee
at this stage? We are conscious that you have given us some written
evidence already which was very useful and, of course, we may
need to correspond with you in writing in terms of one or two
points that may need clarification, but is there anything you
wish to add at this stage in a general sense?
Cllr Kerr: Just to say, it is
very ambitious for Derry City Council to run an airport but they
took this decision 20 years ago and they have been building it
ever since and working at it ever since. There has been a legion
of people around the area who have made a contribution, little
contributions and large contributions. I hope we will take the
airport further. One of the questions that were put was will the
airport have to close and obviously that is an option. We looked
at that as an option but we looked at other options as well. I
would like to think that we will keep the airport open and, with
your help and with the Government's help, we will continue to
grow a facility which is necessary for the people of this area,
for their own personal esteem because for so long we have been
the poor relation of everyone. For their own personal esteem and
for the benefit of this region, I hope that they will help in
order to keep this airport open. Thank you.
Q215 Chairman: Thank you, Cllr Kerr.
Mr Devine?
Mr Devine: Just a couple of points
in relation to the consultation process. The consultation process
is something that is ongoing. We have talked about the various
meetings that we have had but also we had a special meeting where
we convened an all-day session where all of the councillors and
all of the representatives were able to listen to our consultants
present the case for why the airport should be expanded, why the
terminal buildings and the car park should be expanded. We have
focused very much on the runway issue but there are other aspects
to it in terms of terminal buildings and car parks and it would
be wrong to focus purely on the development aspect of the runway
and the safety aspect of the runway. The public will have the
continuing opportunity to make representations to both the council
and to the planning service where planning is necessary. Those
are all the points I would like to make.
Chairman: It has been a very fruitful
morning for the Committee. Once again, thank you for your hospitality.
The Committee is hoping to publish its findings in February and,
no doubt, today's evidence will assist us in compiling that report.
Thank you.
| 
