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ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES SECTION Dear .......... KENT INTERNATIONAL (MANSTON) AIRPORT NIGHT -TIME FLYING POLICY- SUMMER 2005 Further to my previous correspondence, and your concern on this subject, I enclose for your information a copy of the Policy. On behalf of the Council I will keep you informed on how well the Policy performs during the summer. The Council does regard this six months period as an excellent opportunity to monitor closely what happens, and use the information derived to guide future decisions. : In recent months, there has been considerable public interest in this matter. Several good questions have been raised about how well the existing S106 Agreement between the Council and Planestation deals with the current operations of the Airport. For example, it has been pointed out that the Agreement does not cover the topic of late flights; in particular how flights scheduled to arrive before 23.00 hours, but because of delay arriving, later than 23.00 hours, are treated. This point and the general principle of night-time flying are being carried forward into the ongoing review of the S106 Agreement. If you have any questions regarding the enclosed policy do please contact my office. During the summer period, as data is collected on how well this policy performs, I will keep you informed. Yours sincerely Head of Environmental Services Thanet District Council PO Box 9 KENT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - MANSTON 1.0 Introduction 1.1 This night time flying policy is agreed between the Airport Owner and Thanet District Council (the Planning Authority) within the framework of the Section 106 Agreement already in existence between the two parties and extended by mutual agreement pending public engagement and negotiation of a successor agreement. 1.2 The Second Schedule of the existing Section 106 Agreement, paragraph 1.2, requires that the Owner will prepare the night-flying policy at least six months before the commencement of any regular night flying operations after consulting with the Council in accordance with processes set out in 1.3 of the Schedule. On an exceptional basis it has not been possible to comply with this requirement. Full Council agreed on 13 January 2005 that the principle of this policy for a six month period be agreed. Minute 73 of 2005 refers. But this decision cannot be taken as an indication that any further applications from the Airport Owner will be either considered, or accepted. MAG Comment - This paragraph contains an admission that TDC has not complied with the Section 106 Agreement. Councillors were not informed that they were breaching a legally-binding agreement when they were asked to vote on whether to allow the Summer night-flights at a Council meeting on the 13th of January. Were councillors not told because the officers failed to recognise that they were breaching the agreement, or was the omission deliberate ? This question needs to be answered. 1.3 From January 2005 onward, the Section 106 Agreement between the Airport Owner and the Council will be the subject of public consultation during a programme of public engagement. At the end of the period within which the Night- Time Flying policy is operational, it will be reviewed against monitoring reports by the Council and the Airport Owners. 2.0 Purpose of the Night-Flying Policy MAG Comment - In this section it isn’t clear what is being referred to when it says "it will be reviewed." Is it the night-flying policy that will be reviewed or is it the Section 106 Agreement ? The review is to be conducted against "monitoring reports" It does not specify what these reports are. It does not specify what parameters are to be monitored and reported. It does not specify any criteria whatsoever for conducting a review. It does not even specify the purpose of conducting a review. 2.1 The policy recognises the business need for the Owner to be permitted to land six passenger aircraft per week between the hours of 2300 and 2400 hours, and five passenger aircraft per week between the hours of 2400 and 0100 hours. 2.2 Adverse environmental impact, in particular noise, will be minimised, controlled and monitored via the content of this policy. MAG Comment - It says that environmental impact will be minimised. This word is incorrect. The environmental impact would be minimised if the flights didn’t take place at all. Reduced might be a better word (if it could be shown that this agreement would reduce the noise level at all) It says that environmental impact, in particular noise, will be controlled and monitored via the content of this policy. This policy contains no mechanisms for controlling noise and any monitoring that is to take place is to be done by the airport operator themselves. The Council cannot purport to be controlling something that they have effectively abandoned to self-regulation. 3.0 Period of Policy 3.1 The policy will apply only, for the period between 1 April and 30 September 2005. MAG Comment - It should be noted that this policy was published the day before it was to take effect. It can come as little surprise that it is hopelessly inadequate. Why did the Council not publish this sooner so that those who are likely to be affected by night-flights could point out its shortcomings? Is this why it wasn’t published sooner? 4.0 Aircraft Type, and Timetable 4.1 The scheduled flights listed at Schedule 1 from the EU Jet Summer 2005 Timetable, will be the only night time flights permitted within the terms of this policy. MAG Comment - This clause indicates that the Policy only applies to the 11 flights listed Schedule 1. It doesn’t apply to any other night-flights that take place. Since EUjet commenced operations from Manston, local residents have been plagued with noise from night-flights. This policy does not address this problem. All of this disruption can continue because this policy does not apply. There is substantial evidence that EUjet do not always land or depart on schedule. Delays and re-scheduling are daily occurrences. This policy does not provide any mechanism for ensuring that they stick to the times they have published in the Schedule. In practice the 11 flights listed can arrive at any time of the night and this policy doesn’t allow the Council to do anything about it. 4.2 Passenger aircraft of Quota count (QC) 0.5, from within the EU Jet fleet will be permitted to land during night time hours within the terms of this policy. MAG Comment - It says that EUjet aircraft with a quota count of 0.5 may land . It does not say that EUjet aircraft with a quota count of more than 0.5 may NOT land. It does not say that aircraft belonging to other airlines may not land (or take-off) What is the point of this clause ? It is simply saying that something is permitted without specifying what is not permitted. 4.3 By exception, substitute aircraft for the 11 no. scheduled passenger arrivals may land within the night-time period. Subject to paragraph 6.2 regarding the reporting of reasons for substitution, and 7.2 regarding penalties. MAG Comment - This paragraph refers to paragraph 6.2 regarding the "reasons for substitution" Paragraph 6.2 doesn’t say anything about giving reasons for substitution. For this reason, the airport can legitimately claim that this policy does not require them to explain to the Council why they have substituted Fokker 100 aircraft for far noisier alternatives. This paragraph says that EUjet can substitute their Fokker aircraft for any other aircraft they wish to use. Some 70% of the world’s commercial aircraft are quota count 2 or less. This clause allows them to substitute for sub-quota-count 2 aircraft without penalty. In effect this clause provides the airport with a massive loophole that will allow them to fly in extremely noisy planes throughout the night. 5.0 Landing Direction and Route 5.1 All 11 no. night time passenger arrival flights must carry out their final approach from the west, ie landing on runway 10. It is anticipated by the Council that during the summer months meteorological conditions will be such that this may be achieved. Any exceptions will be for aviation and safety reasons and these must be recorded and reported in accordance with Section 6 of the policy. Night time passenger flights arriving will adhere to routes as set out in the existing Section 106 Agreement. MAG Comment - This paragraph should be removed in its entirety. It expresses anticipation of something being achievable. However, it provides no mechanisms for achieving it and no penalties if it is isn’t achieved. At a recent public meeting the Airport Director, Mr. Robertson, confirmed that he has no powers to direct a pilot which way to land or take-off. What is the point of TDC and Planestation agreeing about something they cannot control ? This clause refers to routes in the Section 106 Agreement. Routes are not defined in the Section 106 Agreement. 6.0 Monitoring and Reporting 6.1 On a weekly basis the Airport Owner will provide to the Council, by 13.00 hours each Monday, via e-mail, an Operational Report that records information of the previous week's night-time aircraft movements as detailed in Schedule 2. This will enable the Council to monitor this policy and to be advised of deviations from it with reasons. MAG Comment - Why create unnecessary work, the council should specify a copy of the airport log with an operational comments report. 6.2 By 17.00 hours on the 7th of each calendar month between May and October 2005, the Airport Owner will provide to the Council a Noise Impact Report for the previous calendar month relating to all night-time air traffic movements. MAG Comment - This clause refers to a noise-impact report. It does not specify what is to be contained by any such report. The current arrangements for noise-monitoring are inadequate. This has been confirmed by independent experts. There is only one noise monitor at each end of the runway and there is no instrumentation for tracking the course of aircraft which are arriving or departing the airfield. This means that we cannot know whether aircraft are passing over the noise monitors. The airport is simply not in a position to monitor the noise impact of these night-flights. For this reason,. any data they supply is fatally flawed and there is no mechanism for auditing how accurate it is. If this data is subsequently used to review the Policy, the review will be conducted using inaccurate data. 6.3 By the third week of October 2005, the Airport Owner will provide a Noise Impact Assessment report comparing the noise exposure contours and noise monitor readings for the period of the Night- Time Flying Policy against recognised standards and guidance. It is to include the provision of night- time period Leq and SEL noise contour maps covering all air traffic movements permitted under this policy between 1 April and 30 September 2005. Such maps to be provided in electronic and hard copy. MAG Comment - This clause refers to recognised standards and guidance. This is complete gobbledeygook. There are no "standards" or "guidance" for night-flights. Night-flying is dealt with in different ways at different airfields. For this clause to have any meaning the standards and guidance referred to should have been specified. This clause talks about supplying noise contour maps. It has already been pointed out that the instrumentation for measuring noise from Manston is woefully inadequate. There is no instrumentation installed to measure noise levels at multiple locations that would be needed to prepare real contour maps. This means that any noise contours produced would have to be theoretical ones which "estimate" the noise levels that have been generated. Why wait ? Theoretical maps could have been produced at any point in the last several months. They could have been produced BEFORE the Council was asked to make the decision on whether to allow night-flights. The relevance of contour maps to reporting of individual night-flights is highly debatable. The airport is not able to (or asked to) report the course of aircraft that are using the airport at night. How then can they produce a realistic noise contour? You cannot produce a meaningful noise contour without first reporting (or knowing) the height and track of the aircraft involved. 7.0 Penalties 7.1 The Airport Owner agrees that any additional (to the permitted 11 no. ) EU Jet aircraft scheduled to arrive or depart between 23.00 hours and 07.00 hours will be subject to £1,000 fine. MAG Comment - This clause says that additional EUjet aircraft will be fined. Eujet do not own any aircraft. They lease them from DebisAir Finance. It seems entirely feasible that Eujet will be able to argue that these planes are not EUjet aircraft. The Section 106 Agreement has suffered from problems because of slack wording and poor punctuation. This Policy will suffer similarly. This clause does not make any comment about non-EUjet aircraft. We are currently experiencing multiple unauthorised night-flights. The Council has said that they believe the Section 106 to be defective and that they cannot take action against these unauthorised flights. This night-flying policy fails to deal with this situation. 7.2 The Airport Owner agrees that with respect to any substitute aircraft (paragraph 4.3) notified to the Planning Authority, if the QC of that substitute aircraft is 2 or greater, it will be subject to a £500 fine. MAG Comment - This clause effectively allows any aircraft at all to use Manston at any time of the night. Aircraft below QC2.0 will not be fined. Aircraft of QC2.0 or more will be fined just £500 !!! The aid-flights to Iraq attracted £1000 fines. These fines were not sufficiently large to prevent these flights from taking place. How likely is it that a £500 fine will prevent flights from taking place at night. The answer would appear to be, not likely at all. This clause should have made it absolutely clear that aircraft of less than quota count 0.5 were to be used at all times. Reliance on quota counts is extremely problematic. The Council will (once again) be relying on the airport to tell them what the quota count of a particular aircraft is. How will the Council check that the data they have been supplied with is correct ? Aircraft which have never applied to use a London airport at night will not have a quota count rating. The agreement does not specify how the Council will deal with aircraft that do not have a quota count rating. 7.3 Fines shall be paid via the Council to the Kent International Airport Consultative Committee Charitable Community Fund. They will be reported ) quarterly to the Committee. MAG Comment - This clause says that fines will be paid to MACC but it does not say when those fines should be paid. Fines that were imposed on aid-flights for the Iraq war, a year and a half ago, have still not been paid. This clause should have stipulated a time-frame for paying any fines imposed. Fines that are never paid cannot be regarded as any kind of disincentive. KENT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. NIGHT -TIME FLYING
POLICY
SCHEDULE 2 KENT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (MANSTON)
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