Birmingham Airport anti-Noise Group

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Tuesday 1st February 2005

BANG's response to BIA's High Level Statement of Intent

At 6am on Tuesday 1st February, Birmingham International Airport released a 'High Level Statement of Intent' [1] summarising the airport's plans to proceed with the second runway, a 400m extension of the existing runway and a series of studies into the additional infrastructure needed to support the second runway.

Section 3.1 of the Statement refers to the aircraft and passenger activity forecasts BIA commissioned from Aviasolutions. These predict that air traffic movements at BHX in 2030 will be 72,000 air traffic movements (ATMs) lower than the approx. 350,000 ATMs predicted by the Government in 2003, owing to the trend for 'no-frills' airlines to cram more people into larger planes. The Statement concludes that 'the variation between Aviasolutions ATM forecasts and the DfT . . . would suggest that, on operational demand terms, the target date for the proposed second runway could be slightly deferred from the original 2016 date in the White Paper' (para 3.1.14, p14).

In a statement to the press released on 31st January, Secretary of Birmingham Airport anti-Noise Group (BANG) James Botham said:

"Today's 'High Level Statement of Intent' from BIA brings the case for a second runway back down to earth with a bump. Right from the start we have argued that the Government's forecasts of a huge growth in air travel over the next thirty years were highly questionable and a poor guide to national airports policy. The news that Stansted too is struggling to find the cash to build its second runway after passenger growth halved last year only serves to further erode the credibility of the Government 'predict-and-provide' approach to aviation."

Mr Botham added:

"My fear is that this is just a blip, a temporary reprieve. As long as civil aviation goes under-taxed and under-regulated, airports will never rule out new runways. Meanwhile, thousands of residents remain blighted. Residents will naturally want an end to the uncertainty but we should not let the burden of blight shake our resolve to maintain a principled stance against airport expansion. BIA needs to address the blight that their phantom second runway has created, regardless of whether or not the development goes ahead."

Editor's Notes

1. The High Level Statement of Intent can be viewed on-line at www.bhx.co.uk/high_level_statement_of_intent.pdf.