LOCAL AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday 17 June 2008

SOUTHAMPTON AIRPORT – REQUEST TO ALLOW THE OPERATION OF A NIGHT-TIME MAIL FLIGHT

Report of the Head of Regeneration and Planning Policy

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that Royal Mail be advised that the Council is not prepared to relax the terms of the Flying Controls Agreement between the Borough Council and the owners of Airport to accommodate a 5 nights-a-week mail flight during night hours for the period whilst the at Airport is relaid.

Summary

This report discusses a request by Royal Mail seeking the relaxation of the terms of the agreement which restricts the number of aircraft movements during defined night hours at Southampton Airport in order to accommodate a mail flight diverted from during the period until February 2009 while the runway at Bournemouth is relaid.

Statutory Powers

Town and Country Planning Act.

Introduction

1. Royal Mail uses a Boeing 737 aircraft for a mail flight from to Bournemouth Airport in the early hours of the morning, 5 days a week (Tuesday to Saturday). Mail flown to East Midlands from Scotland, Northern Ireland, the north east and north west of that is destined for Southampton, Bournemouth/ and Dorset is carried on this flight, timetabled to arrive at Bournemouth at 02.20hrs.

2. From 28 July 2008 until at least early February 2009 the runway at Bournemouth Airport is to be completely relaid in the course of overnight possessions. Royal Mail has been advised that the mail flight will not be able to operate as currently timetabled.

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1 3. Royal Mail has considered its operational requirements and has concluded that the operation of this mail flight into Southampton Airport is the only option available that will enable it to meet its service obligations. Royal Mail has accordingly asked for the formal consideration by the Council of the need to operate this mail flight into Southampton Airport.

Southampton Airport - Night Flying Restrictions

4. The Borough Council has an agreement with the owners of Southampton Airport under s106 of the Town and Country Planning Act that is designed to minimise the adverse impact of operations at the airport on the amenity of the communities surrounding the airport. The agreement was concluded in 1992 when the Council granted planning permission for the redevelopment of the airport and for the construction of the new terminal building.

5. The ‘Flying Controls Agreement’ includes strict limits on the number of aircraft movements that can take place during ‘night hours’. During the period from 23.00hrs to 06.00hrs (07.30hrs Sundays) the airport is permitted, subject to some exemptions, to operate only 10 aircraft movements in a calendar month, to a maximum of 100 in any 12 month period.

6. The exemptions allow for exceptional situations including weather conditions, airport emergencies and emergency medical flights.

7. Monitoring shows that the airport handles about 3 or 4 movements each month, on average, during night hours, generally to accommodate late running scheduled traffic. The majority of these movements occur in the first 30 minutes of the defined night period. There are no movements actually scheduled during night hours and the airport is officially closed during those hours.

8. The proposed Royal Mail flight would not be exempt from the night flying restrictions and the number of movements involved, even with an inbound flight only, would be significantly in excess of the permitted number of movements.

9. Royal Mail is accordingly seeking a relaxation of the terms of the Flying Controls Agreement to allow for these mail flights to operate as exemptions from the night flying restrictions contained in the agreement.

Options for Royal Mail

10. I have been advised that a number of alternative methods of handling the mail for central southern England have been investigated by Royal Mail:

i. Road haulage of the mail brought together at East Midlands would take longer than the flight and would result in the need to reschedule mail deliveries across central southern England at least an hour later than at

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2 present. As a result, Royal Mail would fail to meet its service quality obligations.

ii. The use of rail transport would require a new rail service from Scotland to London, transferring mail for this area to road haulage for the onward journey. This would result in mail deliveries in central southern England at least 4 hours later than at present. There are, I am told, no available train paths for an additional service directly to Southampton.

iii. The only option that could achieve current mail delivery times is for the mail flight to be transferred from Bournemouth to Southampton. Other airports and airfields have been investigated but have not been found suitable for a variety of reasons.

11. Royal Mail has considered using a smaller aircraft such as a BAe 146 jet aircraft for this flight, believing that it would be quieter than the 737 regularly used, but the payload would be inadequate to meet the requirements of the service.

12. Royal Mail is prepared to keep the aircraft at Southampton until daytime operating hours before moving it on to Bournemouth. I have not confirmed with BAA Southampton whether the aircraft can be accommodated on the tarmac at Southampton until that time.

13. Royal Mail says that the Boeing 737 is one of the quietest freight aircraft available and is certificated to the ‘Chapter 3’ requirement obligatory for all movements at Southampton Airport.

14. Royal Mail intends to be present at the meeting of the Committee to present its case and it will be possible for members’ questions to be answered directly.

Consultations

15. The request from Royal Mail was received at very short notice in advance of this meeting of the Committee and it has not therefore been possible to undertake the sort of consultation on the proposal that I would have liked. I have, however, circulated copies of this report to colleagues at BAA Southampton, Southampton City Council, City Council and to members of the Airport Consultative Committee for comment. Any comments received will be report orally to the Committee.

Considerations for the Borough Council

16. The proposal would involve only one aircraft movement during the defined ‘night hours’ (23.00 to 06.00), 5 days a week, arriving between 02.00hrs and 02.30hrs.

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3 17. The Boeing 737 may be a relatively quiet aircraft by comparison with those used on freight movement elsewhere, but it is a large aircraft when compared with most of the aircraft regularly using Southampton and it is significantly noisier than most of the new generation of aircraft now using the airport. Of the 16,000 aircraft movements at the airport in the first four months of this year only two (one landing and one take off) were a Boeing 737. Although the aircraft is a more frequent visitor in the summer months, it is clear that the vast majority of the aircraft using the airport are smaller than the 737.

18. The Council has not been approached by BAA Southampton about this proposal but BAA has advised Royal Mail of the restriction on night movements contained in the agreement with the Council.

19. Southampton Airport has seen significant growth in business and in the number of commercial aircraft movements in the last few years. The Council has generally strongly supported that expansion, recognising benefits to the local economy of having a successful regional airport within the sub-region and the benefits to the local community of having a good choice of flight destinations conveniently accessible locally.

20. That support has had the general support of the majority of the local community who recognise those benefits. However, the Council also recognises that airport operational activity has an adverse impact, primarily noise and disturbance, on the residential amenity of residents closest to the airport and on those in the Borough, in Southampton and northwards up the Itchen valley in Winchester district.

21. The Council has very limited control over operational activity at the airport generally but the Flying Controls Agreement has been vitally important in limiting the adverse impact of the growing airport business. The restrictions on night flights are undoubtedly among the most important planks in that agreement. There can be no doubt that the communities around the airport have benefited enormously from the restrictions and that they could have suffered substantial night-time disturbance if the restriction had not been in place. The only protection available to those communities is the maintenance by the Council of the terms of the restrictions.

22. It must be stressed that BAA Southampton have only ever sought a relaxation of the night movement restriction in respect of a single aircraft movement and that the company has never expressed any desire to seek any ongoing relaxation of the restrictions. The business operates successfully and satisfactorily within the terms of the restrictions.

Financial Implications

23. There are no financial implications for the Council in this matter.

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4 Risk Management

24. The risks to the Council in this matter are confined to the political credibility of the Council in weighing the benefits and disbenefits of the decision.

Conclusions

25. As the restriction on night movements at the airport is contained in an agreement with the Borough Council it is entirely for this Council to consider whether it should agree to a temporary relaxation of the restriction to enable Royal Mail to operate this mail flight in order to maintain their service obligations in this area.

26. The relaxation now sought is clearly the result of a significant problem for Royal Mail. It undoubtedly presents significant practical issues for BAA Southampton and presents the Council with a challenging dilemma.

27. To maintain the restriction and reject Royal Mail’s request would appear likely to have an adverse effect on Royal Mail’s delivery standards and some adverse effect on the economy of south central England. That adverse economic effect is impossible to quantify, but Royal Mail has suggested that the actual impact will be an hour’s delay to mail deliveries until next February.

28. By contrast, the adverse impact on the local community would be noise and sleep disturbance at 02.15hrs, 5 days a week, for the next 6 or 7 months. The majority of the local community would be unlikely to find that acceptable and would consider it too high a price to pay simply to avoid the late delivery of the mail. Although there is absolutely no suggestion that this is the case, many would see it as ‘the thin end of the wedge’ in respect of night-time activity.

29. On balance, I consider that the relaxation of the Flying Controls Agreement that is sought is inappropriate and unacceptable and I recommend accordingly.

Paul Ramshaw

Head of Regeneration and Planning Policy

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Civic Offices Leigh Road Eastleigh SO50 9YN

Date: 12 June 2008 Contact Officer: Tony Wright Tel No: 023 8068 8245 e-mail: [email protected] Appendices Attached: None Report No: PP00046

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 – SECTION 100D

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report or an important part of it is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report:

Background Paper

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