Changes in the law, in attitudes to climate change, and indeed the current pandemic, may effect expansion plans, or indeed any plans, at places like Manston in Thanet and nearby Lydd. The Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) reports on recent developments.
“Over the last year, prior to the impact of Covid-19, AEF had been seeing a marked increase in the number of queries about UK airport expansion plans other than Heathrow. These plans were undoubtedly encouraged by the Department for Transport’s stated support of regional airport growth in its Aviation Strategy Green Paper last year.
“Over the same period, however, the government was under increasing pressure from its official climate advisers to take meaningful action on climate change, including on CO2 emissions from the aviation sector.
“In response, the government made a crucial amendment to the 2008 Climate Change Act last year stipulating that the UK must reach “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by 2050. (Not to be confused with a zero-GHG target, net zero allows for some residual emissions in 2050 providing they are balanced by removal schemes such as tree-planting or technologies that remove carbon from the air).
“Possibly, then, airport owners were anticipating changes to legislation and policy as a result of the amendment to the Climate Change Act and had been seeking planning permissions ahead of any tightening of the rules around carbon emissions. A recent judgment on Heathrow expansion, however, has introduced new and significant uncertainties around airport expansion, throwing current and planned airport expansion applications into doubt”.
Wider implications of the legal ruling on the ANPS
“On February 27, the Court of Appeal concluded that the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS) which provided the policy underpinning expansion at Heathrow, failed to take account of the UK’s international commitments to tackle climate change, specifically the Paris Agreement.
“The judgment has serious implications for the planning system, most obviously (but not exclusively) for large infrastructure planning applications that fall within the development consent process set out in the 2008 Planning Act. The Court found that the Paris Agreement should have been considered as part of the sustainable development duty in Section 10 of the Act”.
It also identified failures in relation to Section 5(8) of the Act, which states that any national policy statement “must (in particular) include an explanation of how the policy set out in the statement takes account of government policy relating to the mitigation of and adaptation to, climate change.”
As the Court of Appeal stated in its judgment: “it is clear … that it was the government’s expressly stated policy that it was committed to adhering to the Paris Agreement to limit the rise in global temperature to well below 2oC and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5oC. [para 216].” Consequently, when the government drew up the ANPS, it was in error to disregard the Paris Agreement on the grounds that it had not been formally incorporated into the UK’s Climate Change Act.
With the ANPS being judged to be unlawful, it is not yet clear when, or even if the government plans to revise it. What will happen to any large-scale airport infrastructure applications that may be made before a decision on the ANPS is reached?
Airports whose expansion plans cross the DCO threshold
The first application for an airport Development Consent Order under the 2008 Planning Act was submitted in July 2018 to transform the former military airbase at Manston Airport into a cargo hub capable of operating at least 10,000 air cargo movements per year (with add-on passenger, executive travel, and aircraft engineering services).
Campaigners challenged the business case for the DCO application, arguing that Manston is not viable as a cargo hub, and questioning whether funding for the project was actually in place.
Community groups also expressed deep concerns that, as a cargo hub, many of the operations at Manston Airport would be at night – a new and unwelcome noise intrusion, especially as cargo fleets tend to deploy older, noisier, airliners adapted for the job.
Since the airfield closed to civilian operations, Ramsgate has been selected by Historic England as one of the country’s first “Heritage Action Zones”, and it has become a key historic maritime area, attracting tourists and a cafe culture. Re-opening the airport as a cargo hub, campaigners pointed out, could jeopardise what has become a flourishing local economy.
As reported by the Environmental Law Foundation, campaigners also noticed a glaring omission in the Manston DCO process: the issue of climate change had not been considered by either the applicant or the Planning Inspectorate, despite the clear requirements set out in Sections 10 and 5(8) of the Planning Act.
“In a preliminary hearing set up by the Planning Inspectorate, it fell to local campaigners to ask for climate change to be added to the list of Principal Issues to be considered. Yet the specific issue of aviation emissions and climate change impacts was not considered during the formal examination stage of the Manston DCO process.
Perhaps with the UK’s new net zero target in mind, the Secretary of State for Transport subsequently requested more information on the issue from the airport’s owners and all interested parties – just one day a day before the decision was due (January 18). To allow time for the submission and consideration of the information, the decision date was deferred until May 18 2020.
“The Heathrow judgment – and possible legal challenges if approval is given – is likely to be at the forefront of thinking on the Manston DCO application. Whether approved or rejected, it will set an important precedent” …. and may affect any proposals for Lydd Airport possibly.
Source: Aviation Environment Federation briefing paper
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