Preparations under way for an Airport planning inquiry

Preparations under way for an Airport planning inquiry

Dates for the planning inquiry have not yet been fixed but Environment Minister John Young has confirmed he will bring an inspector to review the approval of the application, which forms part of the Airport’s £42 million redevelopment scheme.

In June, Deputy Russell Labey brought a proposition to the States which brought the project under wider scrutiny.

Deputy Labey, who also chairs the Planning Committee, asked for the redevelopment scheme to be brought back to the States in the light of the impact of the coronavirus crisis. He also asked for the decision to demolish the terminal building to be reconsidered following an expert report commissioned by Save Jersey’s Heritage. This proposition was approved by the Assembly.

The report, by Aeronautical Services and Procedures, cast doubt on claims made during the 2014 application to demolish the building that its position made it a safety hazard.

The report said that clearance heights for aircraft using the Airport were within safety limits and pointed out that the airport control tower, completed as recently as 2010, also infringed the technical area called the transitional surface which extends outwards at right angles from the runway.

Director of civil aviation Dominic Lazarus has previously said that he accepted the Airport currently operates in a safe manner thanks to measures taken to regulate the use of the taxiway while aircraft are using the runway in bad weather, but he warned that advances in aircraft landing technology would result in increased bad-weather delays in future.

Deputy Young said that the terms of reference for the new inquiry were in the process of being finalised but he confirmed that he had decided to call in an independent planning inspector to review the original decision and would then refer the matter to the Planning Committee.

‘I am determined that this matter will be dealt with in an entirely fair and objective manner,’ Deputy Young said, adding that if the inspector’s report were referred to the Planning Committee it would convene under its vice-chairman, Deputy Graham Truscott, because of the prior involvement of its chairman, Deputy Labey.

The decision to refer the application to a planning inspector was welcomed by Save Jersey’s Heritage, which intends to give evidence about the importance of the art deco building and about the ASAP report, but president Marcus Binney urged clarification of the procedure before the terms of reference for the inquiry were fixed.

In a statement following the announcement of the inquiry he said: ‘In our view, it is for the minister or his assistant minister to take the final decision. If the inspector recommends that the permit to allow the demolition of the 1937 terminal is revoked the minister must express a view. If he disagrees he must publish his reasons. If he agrees, he has to ask the chief officer or the Planning Committee to issue the revocation under Article 27 of the Planning Law.’

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