Heathrow Airport Limited · Heathrow Airport Consultative Committee is an advisory body constituted...

Chair: Professor Roderick A Smith, ScD, FREng :Secretary: Rebecca Cox, HACC Adviser: Martyn Hurst

Heathrow Airport Consultative Committee is an advisory body constituted by Heathrow Airport Limited in respect of Heathrow Airport

in accordance with Section 35 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 (as amended by the Airports Act 1986)

Heathrow Airport Consultative Committee

Heathrow Academy, Building 1154 Newall Road, Hounslow, Middlesex TW6 2RQ

T: +44 (0)208 745 7589

E: hacc@hacc.org.uk

W: lhr-acc.org

Minutes of the HACC meeting held on Wednesday 12 July 2017 at 2.00pm, Heathrow Academy, Heathrow Airport

1. Apologies for absence

Apologies were received from Nick Naylor (South Bucks District Council) and

Carol Manduca (Runnymede Borough Council) who sent a deputy.

Members present:

Roderick Smith (Chair)

Onkar Sahota – London Assembly

Chris Turrell – Bracknell Forest Borough Council

James Swindlehurst – Slough Borough Council

John Stewart – HACAN / Clear Skies

John Pope – Heathrow Airport Transport Forum

Kathleen Croft – Local Focus Forum

Gerry Ceaser - Local Authorities Aircraft Noise Council

Mark Izatt - PSSC

John Gurney - TUC

Susan Parsons – ABTA

Simon Arthur - Airline Operators Committee

Brian Yates - Which?

Steve Curran – London Councils

Peter Mason - London Borough of Ealing

Charlotte Morley – Surrey Heath Borough Council

David Linette - London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames

John Bowden - Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

HAL representatives

John Holland-Kaye - CEO

Matt Gorman – Director of Sustainability and Environment

Rob Gray - Director of Community and Stakeholder Relations

Rachel Thomas – Airspace Strategy Manager

In attendance:

Tim May - DfT

Linda Gillham – Runnymede Borough Council (Deputy)

Jeff Halliwell – Chair, Consumer Challenge Board

Heather Pennock - ABTA

Martyn Hurst – HACC Technical Adviser

Rebecca Cox – HACC Secretary

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2. Minutes

Approved: the minutes of the meeting held on 5 April 2017.

3. Action points

The action points from the previous meeting were all completed or ongoing.

4. Report from the Chair

Noted: that Susan Parsons would shortly be retiring from ABTA and therefore

stepping down from HACC. The Chair thanked Susan for her many years of service

during which she had shared her knowledge and expertise, and welcomed her

replacement, Heather Pennock. A dinner would be held after the meeting on 11

October to mark Susan’s contribution. The Chair, Technical Adviser and Secretary

had attended the annual UKACCs meeting in Glasgow and a summary of all that

was discussed would be circulated. The Chair drew members attention to the

CAA’s newly published survey on aviation noise impacts and invited members to

respond individually (https://consultations.caa.co.uk/policy-

development/aviation-noise-impacts/).

At this point, the agenda order was altered.

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Consumer Challenge Board

Received: presentation from Jeff Halliwell, Chair of the Consumer Challenge

Board.

Noted: that the Aviation Act 2012 mandated that the CAA should have a primary

duty of care to the consumer. In recognition that Heathrow technically operated

as a monopoly, HAL were required to submit a five year business plan for approval,

which included any changes or developments whose costs would be passed on to

the passenger. The primary role of the Consumer Challenge Board was to ensure

that in preparing this business plan Heathrow fully accounted for the needs of

present and future consumers of its services. The Board was to scrutinise and

critique HAL’s engagement with these consumers during this process, and to

provide a final report to the CAA, which would also consider to what extent the

result of this engagement was included in the final business plan. Jeff Halliwell

outlined his own relevant experience, and that of the other members of the Board

who had backgrounds in business planning, strategy and oversight, consumer

advocacy and engagement and in depth market research. The Consumer

Challenge Board was to be independent of HAL, the airlines and the CAA, and

would not report to the CAA except in its final report. It would be consumer-

centred, evidence-based, objective and constructive and would actively engage

with Heathrow and all stakeholders during the period that the business plan was

being put together. To date, its work had focused on learning about aviation,

identifying the stakeholders and meeting with HAL, the CAA and the airlines. It

had started to form some views on HAL’s level of engagement so far and a recently

granted one year extension to the H7 timetable was welcomed as it would offer

Heathrow the opportunity to engage effectively with future consumers such as

the new types of passenger who might begin using the airport once new airlines

commenced operations. As a purely consumer focused body, it had no remit

around pollution or noise and its only consideration with regard to the new

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runway would be the consumers’ willingness to pay for expansion, as with any

other proposal in the business plan.

Expansion of runway capacity

Received: an update from Rob Gray, Community and Stakeholder Relations

Director.

Noted: that following the general election there remained significant cross-party

support for the expansion of Heathrow, though the timescale had slipped as

Government Committees had to be reformed. HAL’s proposals to reconstitute

HACC to create the Community Engagement Board, whilst retaining HACC’s

original remit, were discussed. This Board would have statutory duties as outlined

in the Airports Commission’s report, and would operate under an independent

Chair to enable local communities to contribute effectively. It was hoped that this

transition would happen as soon as possible. HACC members were asked to

provide feedback on the proposals within two weeks as part of a transparent

consultative process which would necessitate the engagement of all members.

Concerns were raised by many present that the timescale suggested was much too

short and that members were being asked to give feedback on the basis of a verbal

update at this meeting.

Agreed: that a paper should be produced by HAL clearly outlining the precise

proposals for the transition of HACC to the Community Engagement Board,

including how the existing remit of HACC would be incorporated. This should be

circulated to the Steering Committee for initial consideration and then more

widely to HACC members for comment. Responses from HACC members should

then be forwarded to the HACC Chair prior to the Steering Committee meeting on

20 September, which would be attended by Rob Gray.

Heathrow Airspace Change Consultation

Received: a presentation from Rachel Thomas, Airspace Strategy Manager.

Noted: that Heathrow would require a highly effective airspace change design

process in planning for a third runway. This process would have to run parallel

and be complementary with the planning process and an airspace change

consultation was being developed with the consultation on the third runway. This

consultation would be staged, firstly looking at the principles of airspace change,

then at the geographic envelopes illustrating the likely movements in each of the

surrounding areas, and then on the options for the routes. The aim of the

consultation would be to reach as many people as possible and there would be a

comprehensive publicity process in order to achieve this.

Agreed: that the slides, which could not be shown at the meeting due to technical

problems, should be circulated with the minutes.

DfT policy update

Received: an update from Tim May, DfT.

Noted: that the Government was currently reviewing the responses to the

consultation on airspace policy which ran from February to May this year and a

report would be published in the Autumn. Following the recent consultation on

night flights at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, a decision would be announced

in the next few days. The Government’s approach for the planned consultation

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on aviation strategy was expected to be announced shortly and this would consist

of a number of consultations over an eighteen month period.

Consultation on core elements of the regulatory framework to support capacity

expansion at Heathrow – closing date 22/09/2017

https://consultations.caa.co.uk/economic-regulation/core-elements-of-the-

regulatory-framework-to-suppo/

Noted: that this was a wide-reaching consultation aimed at incentivising Heathrow

to develop the third runway in the most cost-effective way. A summary from the

Technical Adviser would be circulated shortly.

Agreed: that members should provide feedback to Martyn Hurst before 11

August. A draft response would then be drawn up and agreed by the Steering

Committee.

Cranford Agreement

Received: an update from Matt Gorman, Director of Sustainability and

Environment.

Noted: that since this agreement was made in the 1950s, planes had not been

permitted to take off heading East on the northern runway. In February this year,

the Government agreed that the Cranford Agreement should be removed. In

order for take offs to resume, more taxiways were required further to the East on

the runway. A decision had been made to include the planning application for this

in the DCO process. It was anticipated that planning would be granted in 2021,

with alternation on Easterly operations then commencing in 2022/23. In response

to a question from Cllr Bowden, assurances were made that this was being carried

out in the quickest possible way and Matt Gorman offered to discuss this further

outside of the meeting if required.

Heathrow Chief Executive Officer’s report

Received: a report from John Holland-Kaye.

Noted: an update on the key issues at the halfway point of the year. The

investment in people continued, with the focus on mental health and wellbeing,

training colleagues to support each other and passengers. Health and safety

scores had improved and the aim was now to make this a priority for all service

providers at Heathrow. The structural changes which reduced the number of

senior managers together with skills development for frontline colleagues had

resulted in a diversity of talent coming through. In terms of service, Heathrow had

just been voted the best major airport in Europe by passengers and satisfaction

levels continued to improve. The recent BA crisis was challenging but

demonstrated the efficacy of the command and control systems in place. The

collaborative experiences would be used to develop closely integrated

contingency plans for the future. In the areas of PRMs and Border Force it was

recognised that there was still work to do in order to improve passenger

experience. Passenger numbers had increased by 4% on last year, which would

assist with the affordability challenge set by the Government in relation to the

expansion. Recent initiatives within Heathrow Express had been well received and

had resulted in a 13% increase in the use of this service. HAL was working with

the DfT and TfL to improve public transport surface access, which would benefit

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the passenger, and shortly it would be possible to use Oyster cards on Heathrow

Express. Late running flights had been managed more tightly and a reduction had

been achieved. The fly quiet, fly cleaner league tables had also proved effective

in addressing issues related to specific airlines.

12. HACC Steering Committee

Noted: the minutes of the meeting of the HACC Steering Committee held on 19

June 2017.

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Passenger Services Sub-Committee

i) Received: a verbal report from Mark Izatt, Chair of the PSSC.

Noted: that presentations had been made this morning on the new flight

connections centre and the new departure lounge at Terminal 3, as well as a

presentation from Jeff Halliwell, Chair of the Consumer Challenge Board.

Following the BA IT outage, the focus of the PSSC meeting in October would be

resilience.

ii) Noted: the minutes of the meeting held on 5 April 2017.

14. Heathrow Community Noise Forum

Noted: the minutes of the meeting held on 24 May 2017.

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Air Quality at Heathrow

Received: Heathrow air quality monitoring report for Q1 in 2017.

Noted: in particular the data relating to the apparent deterioration in air quality

in Q4 of 2016 as raised at the last meeting.

Aircraft noise complaints

Noted: the Heathrow noise complaints report for Q2 in 2017.

Late flight departures

Noted: that there had been improvements since the last meeting. Future reports

would continue to include data on flights departing after midnight.

Agreed: that future reports should also include similar data on problematic

arrivals. An issue regarding specific late arrivals by Philipine Airlines, Air China and

a Cathay Pacific cargo flight was raised. This would be investigated and brought

back to the next meeting.

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Meeting dates

i) Noted: that the next meeting would be held on 11 October 2017 in the Academy,

after which there would be a tour and a dinner for HACC and PSSC members.

ii) Noted: that meetings in 2018 would take place on 17 January, 18 April, 11 July

and 17 October.

Any other business

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3.59pm