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London City Airport Consultative Committee

Describes the Consultative Committee's history and outlines its constitution, membership, terms of reference and meetings


 

 

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On this Page:

Origins
Designation
Constitution
Membership
Officers
Meetings
20th Anniversary
The Wider Scene
Contact Address

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Related Pages:
Constitution (Alt+3)
Terms of Reference (Alt+4)
Committee List (Alt+5)
Agenda Papers (Alt+6)
Minutes (Alt+7)
Presentations (Alt+8)
Government Guidelines (Alt+9)
ACCs Liaison Group (Alt+0)

 
 
 

OriginsThe Committee in Session

LONDON City Airport's consultative machinery is as old as the Airport itself. When planning permission for the Airport (then known as "the STOLport") was first given in the mid-1980s the developer, John Mowlem & Co plc, entered into an agreement with the former London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC), the London Borough of Newham (LBN), the Port of London Authority and the then Greater London Council. Its purpose was to regulate the environmental impact of the Airport including, in particular, noise and the hours during which the Airport would operate.

The agreement required the setting up of a consultative committee to "monitor all aspects of the operation of the Airport and to advise on operating procedures.....with a view to minimising noise pollution or other nuisance from whatever source". The Committee was charged also with monitoring the implementation of the agreement and to "advise from time to time on the need for any revision thereof". It was agreed later that the Committee would also "discuss and act on complaints from the public".

In the autumn of 1986 a Steering Group was set up to establish the Committee. The group met several times over the winter of 1986/87 leading to the first meeting of the Consultative Committee on 30th June 1987. The notes of the steering group, and a complete set of the minutes of the consultative over the years, can be seen on our Archive Page

The Committee's mandate was renewed and updated in a new s.106 agreement entered into in 1990 when planning permission was given by LDDC for a longer runway.

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Designation

IN May 1996 the Secretary of State for Transport made The Aerodromes Designation (Facilities for Consultation) Order 1996 (SI 1996/1392)**. This order, made under s.35 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982, had the effect of requiring the Airport, with effect from 1st July 1997, to provide facilities for consultation on matters concerning the management or administration of the Airport for users of the Airport, for any local authority and for any other organisation representing local interests. Where Airports are designated in this way the Department for Transport recommends the setting up of a consultative committee according to Guidelines published by the Department.   (The most recent Guidelines - published in December 2003 - can be seen on the website of the Liaison Group of UK Airport Consultative Committees which includes also more detailed information on the statutory background and role of consultative committees).

In July 1998, when the London Borough of Newham (LBN) gave permission to raise the limits on the permitted number of air transport movements, the Airport entered into a new s.106 agreement which (in Schedule 4) again updated the Terms of Reference, membership and running of the consultative committee and harmonised the provision made for the consultative committee with the Department's Guidelines.

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Present Constitution

IN January 2002, following discussions in a working group of the Liaison Group of Airport Consultative Committees set up to review the Guidelines for Consultative Committees, it was decided that the term for which members of the Committee are appointed should be increased to three years.  This required amendments to the constitution and the opportunity was taken to  incorporate a number of provisions reflecting changes in the Committee’s membership, working practices and procedures as they had evolved over time. 

At the Committee's meeting in April 2002 a new constitution, submitted in agreement with the LBN and the Airport, was approved.  This is now the Constitution of the Committee which incorporates its Aims and Purposes and Terms of Reference

Within its overall constitutional framework the Committee has a number of specific functions as laid down in the July 1998 s.106 agreement.

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Membership

IN addition to any other organisations which the Airport (with the agreement of Committee) may wish to see represented, the committee comprises representatives of the Airport and the Airline Operators Committee, the London Boroughs of Newham, Tower Hamlets, Bexley and Greenwich,  the Gallions Housing Association (successors to Thamesmead Town), the London Development Agency, the Royal Docks Management Authority, the three Community Forums operating south of the A13, tenants and residents associations in North Woolwich, Silvertown, West Silvertown and Cyprus, the Association of British Travel Agents, the Docklands Business Club and the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. For a list of the present members see Committee List.

Committee members now serve for a period of three years unless in the meantime the nominating organisation decides to nominate someone new.

Where a member is unable to attend a meeting of the Committee he or she is permitted to send a deputy.  But the name of the deputy must be notified to the Secretary before the meeting.

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John Adshead, Chairman

Officers

IT is the responsibility of the Airport, after consultation with the Committee and with its agreement, to appoint the Chairman and Secretary and such other Officers as it thinks necessary to ensure the independent and efficient working of the Committee.  The Chairman and the Secretary must be independent of Airport and of any other interest represented on the Committee or of any interest in, or affected by, the Airport and its operation.  The procedures adopted by the Airport for the appointment of the Chairman and the Secretary, must be framed such that the independence of the Chairman, the Committee and its officers is assured and seen to be assured.

The Committee's present chair, is John Adshead (pictured above right). He is independent of the Airport.  Before his retirement, John was a deputy chief planning inspector in the Department of the Environment. He has chaired the committee since it first met in mid-1987, a few weeks before the Airport opened for traffic.

The deputy chair is Bill Dunlop. He is a local resident and prior to his appointment as deputy Chair in April 1999 he served for many years as a member of the Committee representing a tenants and residents association in Silvertown.

Stuart Innes, Secretary

The committee's secretary is Stuart Innes (pictured right), a former officer of the LDDC, who has served the committee since the beginning. He is also independent of the Airport.

The expenses of the Committee, including the fees payable to the Chairman and Secretary, are borne by the Airport.

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Meetings

MEETINGS are held at the Airport once a quarter usually at 4.30 pm on the first or second Tuesday of January, April, July and October. The meetings are open to the press and public and the committee's agenda papers and minutes are widely circulated. There are sometimes Presentations and where possible these are posted to this site.

 On the Committee Visit to Edinburgh - July 2007At every meeting the Director of Business Development reports on developments at the airport including changes in the route network, the number of flights and passenger numbers. There is also a standing item on environmental issues including complaints and the noise and other requirements of the planning permission and the s.106 agreement. Invariably there is discussion of the problems and concerns of local people. These are mostly concerned with planning and environmental issues but there is also discussion of other issues such as road safety, signage, boundary security etc. The Committee also takes an interest in wider issues. For example it takes a keen interest in surface access to the airport - it has been pressing for some time for a fixed rail link - and there is discussion of aviation and airport issues generally, for example the need for a more integrated and efficient air traffic control regime across Europe.

Through the Annual Familiarisation Visit committee members have an opportunity each year to experience the Airport as a passenger and to see some of the destination airports.  So far there have been visits to Dublin, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Dusseldorf, Paris, Luxembourg, Geneva, Amsterdam and Edinburgh.

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At the 20th Birthday Celebration

20th Anniversary

The Committee held its 20th Anniversary meeting on Tuesday 3rd July 2007. At a celebration supper after the meeting the Airport's Managing Director, Richard Gooding, paid tribute to the useful work of the Committee over the years and there were presentations to the Committee's Chairman, Vice Chairman and Secretary all of whom had worked with the Committee for the whole period since its first meeting on Tuesday 30th June 1987. Since then there had been 102 meetings and it was remarked that the Secretary had attended every one!

Also at the celebration was Stephen Timms MP who attended the Committee's first meeting as Leader of Newham Council. He is now Minister of State at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

The minutes of the Committee's meetings since the beginning are available on this site [Committee Minutes].

Visit our Picture Gallery to see more photographs taken at the Celebration after the meeting

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The Wider Scene

THE Committee keeps in touch with the equivalent committees for the other London area airports - Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted - with whom there are arrangements for exchanging agenda papers and minutes. There is also contact with airport consultative committees across the country. Each year the Committee's officers meet with their opposite numbers at 22 other UK airports to discuss common issues and to share experience. This Liaison Group has established the UKACCS website which includes the agenda papers and minutes of the liaison meeting held at London Gatwick (2002), Birmingham (2003), Bristol (2004), Liverpool (2005), Manchester (2006) and Stansted (2007).  The site also includes information on the statutory background and role of consultative committees and on current aviation issues both in the UK and at European level

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Contact Details

Stuart Innes, c/o London City Airport, Royal Docks, London, E16 2PB.
Telephone: + 44 (0)1689 843434
Fax: +44 (0)20 8251 9858
E-mail: Click Here

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**  This order was amended by the Aerodromes (Designation) (Facilities for Consultation) (Amendment) Order 2002 (SI 2002/2421) which came into force on 15th October 2002

 
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An independent Consultative Committee established by London City Airport pursuant to Section 35 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982
Chairman:
John Adshead     Secretary: Stuart Innes
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Page last modified: 27th July 2007