Issue - meetings

This report advises Members of the three current proposals for International Airports in Medway and Kent and recommends strong opposition to all the proposals.

Discussion:

This report provided details of the three current proposals for international airports in Medway and Kent from Boris Johnson (Mayor of London) Lord Foster and John Olsen.  This report had been considered by Cabinet on 20 December 2011.

Councillor Rodney Chambers, Leader of the Council, supported by Councillor Jarrett, Portfolio Holder for Finance, proposed the recommendations set out in the report.

Councillor Griffiths, supported by Councillor Maple, proposed the following amendment:

Recommendation 10.2 – “Further, this Council instructs officers to investigate the holding of a Medway referendum at the earliest opportunity to gauge public opinion on the principle of an airport in the Thames Estuary”.

In accordance with rule 11.4 of the Council Rules at the request of six Members, a vote on the amendment was recorded as follows:

For: Councillors Bowler, Colman, Craven, Gilry, Christine Godwin, Paul Godwin, Griffiths, Harriott, Hubbard, Igwe, Maple, Murray, Osborne, Price and Shaw – total 15

Against: Councillors Avey, the Worshipful Mayor of Medway (Councillor Baker), Brake, Bright, Carr, Mrs Diane Chambers, Rodney Chambers, Chitty, Clarke, Cooper, Doe, Filmer, Griffin, Adrian Gulvin, Pat Gulvin, Hewett, Hicks, Iles, Irvine, Jarrett, Kearney, Kemp, Mackness, the Deputy Mayor (Councillor Maisey), Mason, O’Brien, Purdy, Rodberg, Royle, Smith, Stamp, Tolhurst, Turpin, Watson, Wicks and Wildey – total 36

On being put to the vote, the amendment was lost.

In accordance with rule 11.4 of the Council Rules at the request of six Members, a vote on the subatantive motion was recorded as follows:

For: Councillors Avey, the Worshipful Mayor of Medway (Councillor Baker), Bowler, Brake, Bright, Carr, Mrs Diane Chambers, Rodney Chambers, Chitty, Clarke, Colman, Cooper, Craven, Doe, Filmer, Gilry, Christine Godwin, Paul Godwin, Griffiths, Adrian Gulvin, Pat Gulvin, Harriott, Hewett, Hicks, Hubbard, Igwe, Iles, Irvine, Jarrett, Kearney, Kemp, Mackness, the Deputy Mayor (Councillor Maisey), Maple, Mason, Murray, O’Brien, Osborne, Price, Purdy, Rodberg, Royle, Shaw, Smith, Stamp, Tolhurst, Turpin, Watson, Wicks and Wildey – total 50

Decision:

The Council agreed to reaffirm its strong opposition to the current plans to construct any of the new International Airport proposals in, or close to, Medway and agrees to work with neighbouring authorities, local communities, businesses and environmental groups to oppose these proposals on the following grounds:

1. It would adversely affect homes in Medway, Kent and Essex and lead to the demolition of people’s homes.

2. An airport would cause environmental destruction to sites of special scientific interest and internationally important areas where hundreds of thousands of birds migrate to annually.

3. As the Thames Estuary is a hub for hundreds of thousands of birds, there would be a significant risk of bird strike.  Even with an aggressive bird hazard management programme, such as shooting or scaring birds away, the bird strike hazard would be up to 12 times higher than at any other major UK airport (source: RSPB).

4. An airport would increase the pressure for additional major development due to the increased attractiveness of the areas of business.  This could result in vast swathes of Kent and Medway being lost to development.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 667

Background:

This report provided details of three current proposals for International Airports in Medway and Kent. The report set out the proposal by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, for an International Airport on reclaimed land in the Thames Estuary north east of Sheppey and Whitstable, the proposal from the architect Lord Foster for an International Airport on the Isle of Grain and partly on reclaimed land in the River Thames and the mouth of the River Medway and a proposal from ex Cathay Pacific Executive and previous Dan Air Head of Airline, John Olsen, for an International Airport at Cliffe costing £15billion, with 3 runways operating 24 hours a day and handling 100 million passengers a year.

The report provided details of the Council’s opposition to these proposals together with information relating to the Government’s position and the Local Enterprise Partnership which had agreed to commission a study into Airport Capacity in the Greater South East area of England.

The Leader reported that Kent County Council (KCC) had contacted him prior to the Cabinet meeting to confirm that KCC supported Medway Council in terms of its opposition to the current airport proposals and the approach as outlined by the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to investigate the current collective capacity of the airports in the Greater South East and establish how they could be utilised more efficiently.

The Cabinet agreed to accept this matter as urgent to enable its views to be included in the report to Council on 12 January 2012.