Civil Aviation Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 6:39 pm on 28 March 2006.

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Photo of Lord Hanningfield Lord Hanningfield Deputy Chief Whip, Whips, Shadow Minister, Transport, Shadow Minister, Communities and Local Government 6:39, 28 March 2006

My Lords, the implications of the burgeoning aviation industry are felt far and wide, but nowhere more so than by those communities living in the shadow of our major airports. We have already discussed several times today the problems that those communities suffer on a daily basis, but they pale in comparison to the plight of those communities threatened by airport expansion. It is important to recognise that due to the distinctive character of aviation, the blight suffered far exceeds the territorial extent of the physical development. The difference is significant. When one builds a railway line, one does not expect the train to leave the tracks and create noise and nuisance over a mile away. The inherent nature and attendant problems of aviation make it unique, which has consequences for the way in which we must compensate for the blight that it can cause.

The amendment is designed to address the problem of generalised blight, which materialises as soon as any major airport expansion plans are made public. The problem was recognised in the 2003 air transport White Paper, when the Government signalled:

"The airport operator will need to put in place a scheme to address the problem of generalised blight resulting from the runway proposal".

I declare at this juncture my interest as leader of Essex County Council, since much of my understanding is drawn from my experience of Stansted Airport's expansion plans. BAA's home owner support scheme has proved woefully inadequate; so inadequate that Takeley parish council—which is the major village involved—decided to pursue legal action. The case was before the High Court at the time of the Grand Committee. Although provision for judicial review was not granted, the case remains significant in two respects. First, it is clear evidence of the strong feeling in local communities that this approach to compensation is inadequate, arbitrary and unfair.

Secondly, the case gives the argument that I advanced in Committee a significant new dimension. The legal team acting on behalf of Takeley parish council argued that,

"the White Paper envisages a scheme to provide redress to those affected by 'generalised blight' and paragraph 12.16 envisages the relevant class of beneficiaries to be 'local people', without limiting such redress to those within a particular noise contour . . . By limiting the compensation scheme to providing redress for those 'worst affected' rather than minimising the impact on local people as envisaged by the White Paper, it failed to address instances of generalised blight which fall outside the boundary, and it is based on an irrational distinction between properties falling inside the boundary and those falling outside it".

There is a line somewhere, and there is a house on one side and a house on the other side. It causes particular hardship.

Consequently, at the hearing it was argued that the Secretary of State had acted unlawfully by granting policy support for the construction of a new runway at Stansted while failing to ensure that appropriate measures were in place to compensate those impacted by generalised blight. Since those were measures that the Government committed themselves to in the White Paper, the legal team argued that the Secretary of State thereby infringed the European Convention on Human Rights. I will not go into the more legal processes, but obviously people felt very strongly about it.

I am no lawyer, but it seems that the present practice of encouraging airport operators to introduce a voluntary compensation scheme has failed the Government's stated purpose in the White Paper. The nature of the existing arrangement has the potential at least for the Government to be found in breach of their obligations under the convention.

In light of that potential and the obvious unfairness of current voluntary compensation schemes, it would seem eminently sensible to accept the amendment and give statutory force to an equitable compensation proposal that chimes with the Government's sentiments and policies as set out in the White Paper. I beg to move.