Agenda item

(CSP: SLE, SLE2)

Purpose:  To outline to the Executive the purpose and contents of the Draft Airports National Policy Statement and to establish West Berkshire Council’s response to the Government’s current consultation.

Resolved that the proposed response to the Government’s consultation on the Draft Airports National Policy Statement (NPS) which includes support for the Heathrow Northwest Runway Scheme be agreed.

This decision is eligible to be ‘called-in’.  However, if the decision has not been ‘called-in’ by 5.00pm on 11 May 2017, then it will be implemented.

The Executive considered a report (Agenda Item 8) which outlined the purpose and contents of the Draft Airports National Policy Statement (NPS) and which sought to establish West Berkshire Council’s response to the Government’s current consultation.

Councillor Jeanette Clifford asked the Executive to agree the proposed response to the consultation as outlined in the report which included support for the Heathrow Northwest Runway Scheme. This was based on the benefits it would bring to the economy, maintaining and building upon links to the wider world and the relative ease of access to Heathrow. This would be beneficial to West Berkshire residents. This proposed response took account of the environmental measures proposed to mitigate the harm caused by the new Northwest Runway. The proposed response would also align with the response being drafted by the Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

Councillor Lee Dillon noted that the report was not subject to call-in. He queried why this was the case when the NPS was published in February 2017 and therefore the response could have been brought to an earlier Executive, thereby permitting call-in. Councillor Dillon requested clarification on the process followed in reaching this point.

Nick Carter pointed out that the consultation deadline was 25 May 2017 and this could be the reason why the decision could not be called-in at this stage. Stephen Chard added his understanding that the tight timeframes at this point in time was why the decision was not eligible for call-in. Councillor Dillon felt that this did not answer why the decision could not have been made at an earlier stage. He added that the position of the Liberal Democrat Party on this matter was well established and this was not supportive of the NPS.

Nick Carter responded that the decision should be eligible for call-in and if a call-in was progressed, then there would be time to arrange a special meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Commission to consider the call-in and then, if necessary, arrange a Special Executive before the 25 May 2017 deadline.

Councillor Alan Macro felt that it was questionable whether the mitigation measures would do enough to prevent a detriment to the environment, i.e. from carbon emissions and noise pollution.

Councillor Macro also noted that the Northwest Runway scheme was expected to generate up to 77,000 additional jobs in the local area by 2023. While accepting that the local area went beyond West Berkshire, there would be an expectation that more people would move into the local area for these jobs. This was particularly likely to be the case when considering low unemployment levels and this could create a housing pressure. Councillor Clifford raised the importance of maintaining low unemployment in future and ensuring that job opportunities continued to be available to local people. Councillor Graham Jones added the importance of the NPS proposal to the local economy.

RESOLVED that the proposed response to the Government’s consultation on the Draft Airports National Policy Statement (NPS), which included support for the Heathrow Northwest Runway Scheme, be agreed.

Reason for the decision: To establish the Council’s response to the Government consultation.

Other options considered: The Council is not obliged to response to this Government consultation. However, given the importance of Heathrow to the Thames Valley and West Berkshire economies it is considered appropriate for the Council to respond and continue to support the position initially expressed by the Executive in 2014 of support for the expansion of airport capacity in the south east to be focused at Heathrow.