Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (As Amended) APPEALS BY MR MARTIN SCOTT Against the decisions by Hambleton District Council to refuse planning consent for (1) Revised planning application comprising an airfield clubhouse with three bedrooms new/extended hangers with concrete aprons, new workshop/maintenance hanger, artificial matting on main runway, relocate fuel line, access and car parking; (2) Replacement helicopter landing pad and jet fuel stop facility; (3) Retrospective application for provision of geo-textile matting and concrete apron; and to issue an Enforcement Notice in respect of (4) alleged breach of planning control relating to the unauthorised construction of an aircraft hanger; the unauthorised concreting of the apron to aircraft hanger F; the unauthorised concreting of the apron to aircraft hanger A; the unauthorised concreting of part of the east-west runway; and the unauthorised installation of plastic geo-textile on part of the main east-west runway at: Bagby Airfield, Bagby, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, YO7 2PH Evidence of Peter Kember Dip Tp, MRTPI (Rtd), MRAeS, Aviation Planning Consultant Public Inquiry at: The Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Stone Cross, Northallerton, DL6 2UU, opening at 1000 on 15th March 2011 References: Planning Inspectorate: APP/G2713/A/10/2136646/NWF; APP/G2713/C/09/2114975; APP/G2713/A/2123183/NWF; and APP/G2713/A/10/2123181 Hambleton District Council: 10/01272/FUL; 09/04039/FUL; and 09/03959/FUL Kember Loudon Williams: K11/005 Kember Loudon Williams Ltd, Ridgers Barn Bunny Lane, Eridge, Nr Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN3 9HA Tele: 01892 750018 Fax: 01892 750019 Email: [email protected] CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction - Professional qualifications and experience - Instructions - Submissions - Bagby Aerodrome - Definitions - Context - Facilities - The proposed development - The Enforcement Notice 2.0 History of Bagby Aerodrome - Early development - Aircraft Repair Servicing and Maintenance - Pilot training - ‘Crosswind” runway - Reinforcement works 3.0 General Aviation – A Context For The Appeals - Trends in GA - New technology aircraft - Helicopters - The GAAC’s “Considerate Flying Programme” - The role of an Aerodrome Joint Consultative Committee 4.0 Proposed Facilities - Hangarage - Clubhouse - Related development 5.0 Aerodromes in Yorkshire - Analysis of Alternative Aerodrome Sites - Bagby Constraints 2 6.0 Development Plan Policy (Aviation) - Regional Spatial Strategy - Local Development Framework – Core Strategy 7.0 Aviation Policy Considerations - National Policy - Aviation Planning Guidance 8.0 The Future for Bagby Aerodrome 9.0 Conclusions and Recommendations - A way forward - LPA planning conditions - Appellants proposed planning conditions (aviation) - Aerodrome Consultative Committee - Draft Flight Policy - Draft Complaints Policy 10.0 Summary of Case 3 APPENDICES PK1 DfT Guidelines for Joint Consultative Committees PK2 Extract of CAA Aeronautical Charts for the North of England 1998 and 2010 PK3 Extract of GPDO 1995 Article 1 definition of aerodrome PK4 Extracts of CAA UK Aerodrome Index (CAP481) PK5 “Why General Aviation ?” GAAC Booklet PK6 “Safe Operating Practices at Unlicensed Aerodromes” CAA Publication CAP793 PK7 Bagby Aerodromes Flight Protocol PK8 Witness Statement of Messrs J.P.Lassey, J.Dundon, A.G.Kennet and G.Fox PK9 DofE and DofT Appeal Decision Letter – the Airfield, Bagby 9th September 1987 PK10 Extracts of Pilot Flight Guides for Bagby PK11 Assessment of Aircraft Movements at Bagby Airfield by P.A.Pritchett BSc, ACA PK12 PIN Appeal Decision Letter - Elmsett Aerodrome 13th October 2000 PK13 CAA leaflet – GA Safety Sense “Aeroplane Performance” PK14 Secretary of State Appeal Decision Letter – Fairoaks Aerodrome dated 18th September 1978 and, Sywell Aerodrome dated 21st November 2007 PK15 CAA statistics - UK Registered Aircraft 1985 – 2010 PK16 New technology aircraft requirements PK17 Yorkshire Air Ambulance letter dated 13th September 2010 PK18 GAAC leaflet – ‘More Considerate Flying’ PK19 Support for Joint Consultative Committees PK20 Yorkshire GA aerodromes – constraints/potential 4 1.0 Introduction Professional Qualifications and Experience 1.1 My name is Peter Kember. I am aviation planning consultant to Kember Loudon Williams Limited, I hold a Graduate Diploma in Town Planning from London - South Bank University (1979). I am a retired member of the Royal Town Planning Institute. I am also a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society. 1.2 I have been engaged in the town planning profession since 1968. The first 19 years of my planning career were spent with a succession of local and county planning authorities in the South East of England. From 1974 to 1986 I was employed by Wealden District Council (East Sussex) initially as a senior and then as a principal grade planning officer. It was whilst acting as a team leader at Wealden that my interest in aviation planning started. Since 1986 I have worked in the private sector as a consultant specialising in airport and aerodrome planning. In 1996, with others including Robert Loudon Meek I formed Kember Loudon Williams Ltd (KLW) as a town planning and environmental consultancy. 1.3 In addition to my professional qualifications I hold a UK Private Pilots Licence (PPL) and I fly my own aeroplane for both recreational and business purposes. I learned to fly gliders when I was 16 and I have held a UK PPL since 1984. For the past ten years I have operated Laddingford Aerodrome near Tonbridge in Kent and in 2006, with others, I purchased the Aerodrome. I am a member of the Light Aircraft Association (LAA), formerly the Popular Flying Association and since 1993 I have built and have operated two different Europa aircraft under the LAA’s “Permit to Fly” scheme. 1.4 In the past 20 or so years, during which period I have been concentrating on aviation planning cases, I have advised on more than 80 different flying sites in the UK 30 or more of which have been the subject of public local inquiries of one sort or another. My list includes, inter alia, Fairoaks Airport in Surrey, Biggin Hill and Rochester Airports in Kent, Nottingham City Airport, Truro and Perranporth Aerodromes in Cornwall, Little Gransden and Duxford in Cambridgeshire, Elmsett 5 and Monewden in Suffolk, Turweston and Finmere in Buckinghamshire, North Weald in Essex, Sywell Aerodrome in Northamptonshire and Elvington and Breighton Aerodromes in Yorkshire. Most of this work has been carried out for the private sector but on occasions I have advised local planning authorities. I have also advised Members of Parliament on the subject of planning for General Aviation (GA) most recently on the subject of the effects of wind turbine farms on nearby aerodromes. I was a founding director of the General Aviation Awareness Council (GAAC). I am presently a member of the CAA’s General Aviation Consultative Committee (GACC). 1.5 As the planning consultant to the LAA I have given advice on a further 100 or so small scale flying sites used or operated by LAA members. I was recently part of the public inquiry teams that obtained planning permission on appeal for a new HQ building for the LAA and proposed helicopter operations at Turweston Aerodrome in Buckinghamshire, and a proposed 1000 m paved runway and other development including new hangars at Sywell Aerodrome in Northamptonshire. Instructions 1.6 KLW was instructed by Bagby Airfield in June 2009, inter alia, to provide general planning advice and to provide aviation planning advice on an intended appeal and associated matters. I flew into Bagby from my base near Tonbridge in Kent on the 16th June 2009, and, I inspected around the airfield (or Aerodrome as I shall refer to it) and the nearby village. I have subsequently revisited the Aerodrome. 1.7 Because the appeals are in respect of town planning issues my evidence necessarily concentrates on town planning issues. However as an experienced pilot I am able to offer the benefit of my knowledge of considerate flying practices and flight protocols which can significantly reduce the environmental impact of an aerodrome. These protocols are best addressed by the Aerodrome having a Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) to be set up in accordance with the guidelines promoted by the Department for Transport (see Appendix PK1). No such JCC exists at present and strictly speaking none is required because the Aerodrome is not designated for the purposes of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 (Section 35). I shall return to the subject of a JCC in Sections 3 and 9 of my evidence. 6 1.8 The evidence which I have prepared and provide for this appeal in this proof of evidence is true and has been prepared and is given in accordance with the guidance of my professional institutions and I confirm that the opinions expressed are my true and professional opinions. 1.9 At one time or another I have flown into the majority of GA aerodromes in Yorkshire. These Aerodromes are shown on the 2010 edition of the CAA Aeronautical Chart for the North of England, an extract copy of which is reproduced at my Appendix PK2. For comparison purposes I have included a copy of the CAA Chart dating from 1998. If an aerodrome has no published data, despite being shown on the CAA chart, it is not available to visiting pilots or the public. Those aerodromes that I have not personally visited have been contacted either by myself or my assistants at Kember Loudon Williams Ltd. I have examined the published flight guide data on all of the Yorkshire aerodromes. Propositions 1.10 My evidence is concerned to substantiate 7 main propositions in respect of this appeal: (i) There is evidence to support my view that the appeal site has been in continuous use as an aerodrome, as defined by the GPDO, which caters for General Aviation since at least 1986. (ii) The use of the proposed hangars and associated development, the subject of the planning appeals, and the development the subject of the enforcement appeal, represent development which is ancillary to the lawful aerodrome use.