Bristol: Airport Consultative Committee

[superking]

Yet another subject with any information released. They don't have to release sensitive information,just run of the mill stuff really that has no bearing on running of the airport. I been banging on for ages about news not released and this is another example. I hope you get a reply of some kind Localyokel.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I won't be giving up. I've sent a third email this evening. If I hear nothing by the middle of next week I shall send a message to the airport asking the airport CEO to be made aware that his airport is not complying with DfT guidelines when it comes to communicating openly and effectively with his local communities about the impact of airport operations with, in the DfT's view, ACCs a well-established method of discharging that obligation. Not that I expect any communication from me to actually reach the airport CEO, unlike in the days of Les Wilson when he would always reply personally.

I've still received no reply from the ACC secretariat despite now sending them three emails over the past three weeks.

Since yesterday I've been attempting to send a message to ther airport itself using the message form in the Contact section of its website. Each time I try to send a message I receive this notice: We experienced a technical difficulty while processing your request. Your data may not have been correctly saved.

So I don't know if the airport received my message or not. It really is a very poor show. The ACC won't reply and the airport's own system might not be working. It's a good wheeze if you want to be incommunicado.

I will press on until someone has the good manners to answer.

 

[alphagolf]

I've still received no reply from the ACC secretariat despite now sending them three emails over the past three weeks.

Since yesterday I've been attempting to send a message to ther airport itself using the message form in the Contact section of its website. Each time I try to send a message I receive this notice: We experienced a technical difficulty while processing your request. Your data may not have been correctly saved.

So I don't know if the airport received my message or not. It really is a very poor show. The ACC won't reply and the airport's own system might not be working. It's a good wheeze if you want to be incommunicado.

I will press on until someone has the good manners to answer.

Following on from an email I sent last night to the chair on the ACC and copied in the airport in which I explained the legal obligations they have I think you will find documents have now been uploaded onto the Bristol Airport website.
Amazing that I only said to them if I received no response within 7 days I would make contact with the UKACC and the Department for Transport (Aviation) to further investigate.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Following on from an email I sent last night to the chair on the ACC and copied in the airport in which I explained the legal obligations they have I think you will find documents have now been uploaded onto the Bristol Airport website.
Amazing that I only said to them if I received no response within 7 days I would make contact with the UKACC and the Department for Transport (Aviation) to further investigate.

Well done. Which email address did you use? Last month and this I sent three emails to the address showncon the ACC section of the airport website without any reply. I've also been trying to contact the airport itself for the past ten days or so on their website Contact email addess but I keep receiving what is in effect an errot message. I tried two separate browsers but was met with the same response each time. I was actually going to hand in a printed letter at the desk in the old terminal tomorrow.

We'll have to see how long they take to publish the minutes of the meeting held on 23 October. Minutes were always published within a month of the meeting date.

 

[alphagolf]

Well done. Which email address did you use? Last month and this I sent three emails to the address showncon the ACC section of the airport website without any reply. I've also been trying to contact the airport itself for the past ten days or so on their website Contact email addess but I keep receiving what is in effect an errot message. I tried two separate browsers but was met with the same response each time. I was actually going to hand in a printed letter at the desk in the old terminal tomorrow.

We'll have to see how long they take to publish the minutes of the meeting held on 23 October. Minutes were always published within a month of the meeting date.

I looked at the UKACC website and used the email address on there.

[email protected] and [email protected]

The email I received from the secretary was as follows:

I am the Secretary to Bristol Airport Consultative Committee.

Thank you for your email and for drawing my attention to the missing documentation on the website.

As you will see the agenda and minutes are usually uploaded and I am sorry that these particular documents were overlooked - this has been an oversight following changes in staff/roles.

I can confirm that the agenda for the October meeting has now been uploaded, together the approved minutes of the July meeting. Please be assured that we will continue to ensure that agendas for future meetings will be posted and that the minutes will be posted once approved.

With best wishes

Vicky Brice
Secretary - Bristol ACC

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I looked at the UKACC website and used the email address on there.

[email protected] and [email protected]

The email I received from the secretary was as follows:

That's good thinking but doesn't take away from the fact that the advertised email address on the BRS website is being ignored when used.

 

[superking]

The airport is doing a good job to distant it self from the out side public.There has been a reply to alphagolf from the acc,so with that in mind is good,well done alphagolf for getting a reply from the acc.
Still nothing heard from the airport it self,and I said many times that the airport is making it self distant from general public.Are you going to keep trying from the airport it self Localyokel or leave it now alphagolf has a reply from a different direction.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The airport is doing a good job to distant it self from the out side public.There has been a reply to alphagolf from the acc,so with that in mind is good,well done alphagolf for getting a reply from the acc.
Still nothing heard from the airport it self,and I said many times that the airport is making it self distant from general public.Are you going to keep trying from the airport it self Localyokel or leave it now alphagolf has a reply from a different direction.

The ACC is strictly not a direct airport responsibility. It has an independent chairman and is made up of various representatives from local authorities, parish councils, TUC, local businessl bodies, ABTA and the airlines serving BRS. The airport also has a member on the committee - the airport CEO.

Where the airport does have an interest is in its responsibility to inform the local community of the impact of its operations, and DfT guidleines say that ACCs are a well-established way of achieving this. That being so, it ought to be in the airport's interest to ensure that the ACC through its secretariat does publish ACC minutes as soon as possible. I don't know whether the ACC secretariat has to load the minutes onto the BRS website via the airport's IT people.

The minutes they have just published thanks to alphagolf's intervention are those for the meeting on 24 July - that's four months ago! There has been another ACC meeting since - on 23 October and the minutes for that meeting ought to be appearing soon.

I'll keep an eye on that - no doubt alphagolf will too - and I'm sure that one of us will chase up the committee secretariat if they are laggardly again. Thanks to alphagolf I now have another email address which they appear to respond to, unlike the one shown for ACC contact on the airport website.

In the past couple of years the minutes seem to have become less informative. I'll do a summary of the main points in the next day or two.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

ACC minutes for meeting held on 24 July 2019

I’ve summarised below the main points in the minutes. A number of other items were also discussed such as passenger statistics, aircraft movements, public transport use, airport service quality results etc. As is the way with the minutes these days no details were given, merely a reference to the fact that ACC members had received written reports on these subjects.

The main points as I see them are listed below. The full minutes can be accessed at

Airport Consultative Committee: Papers

Learn more about how we engage with stakeholders in the local community and beyond through the Airport Consultative Committee. View meeting agendas and minutes, Government guidance and related group information.

www.bristolairport.co.uk

1. The chairman suggested that consideration should be given to altering the ACC’s constitution to permit members of the public to address the committee for up to three minutes. Members supported this in principle and the chairman would circulate a proposed form of wording for consideration at the next meeting. In the meantime the current constitution would remain in place.

My comment:

The BRS ACC is more conservative (note the small c) in its approach to including members of the public than some other airport ACCs. The chairman says on the airport website that meetings are ‘generally open to the public and we welcome interest in what we do” However, the section goes on to say that anyone wishing to attend must write to the ACC secretary in advance and provide details of name, organisation represented and the reason for wishing to attend the meeting.

That doesn’t strike me as an ‘open house’ type of invitation and there is also the implication that a would-be attendee must represent an organisation rather than be merely an interested private individual. Furthermore, if my experience is anything to go by, attempting contact via the ACC email address on the airport website is ignored. I await the result of the consideration at the next ACC meeting which was actually on 23 October but no minutes are yet available for that meeting.

2. The CEO presented a written report which had been circulated with agenda papers. He drew particular attention to:

Passenger numbers

Airport Service Quality

Carbon ‘road map’

Sustainable improvements (security trays made from recycled plastic and water refill stations were two examples he gave)

Passenger experience improvements yjay have been completed including extension to immigration area, check-in facilities, capital projects such as completion of multi-storey car park, two new aircraft stands, ongoing construction of Aviation House and a new route to Brussels

Proposed airspace change

My comment:

That’s all the minutes provide - just a summary of the CEO’s written report

3. The airport planning manager spoke of the planning application currently residing with North Somerset unitary authority to increase annual throughput from 10 million to 12 million passengers. Since submitting the application in 2018 the airport has responded to requests for further clarification/information including a formal request relating to an Environmental Impact Assessment. The consultation period was closed.

In response to a question, it was confirmed that airport management was not proposing any additional aircraft stands.

In response to another question airport management confirmed that they remained committed to the second multi-storey car park but could not provide a timescale at present and that the demand for low cost parking needed to be met.

My comment:

I don’t know if the comment about additional aircraft stands means no more after those to be built on the site of the proposed demolition of the old terminal or whether that proposal has now been cancelled. Bear in mind that these are minutes of a meeting held four months ago.

Even if the new stands on the old terminal building site are still to go ahead, can the airport really cope if it proposes no more stands after that and is allowed to handle 12 mppa?

4. The airport’s surface access strategy manager reminded the committee of the work of the parking summit and 8-point action plan to address parking issues with three core elements: developing an authorised waiting area and drop-off facility; implementing local parking controls by working with Winford parish council and the local authority; implementing enforcement including contributing to a dedicated parking officer.

My comment:

As these minutes are four months old I assume the authorised waiting and drop-off area is the one now open on the south side of the airport.

5. The airport’s consultation and engagement executive gave a presentation on Airspace Modernisation which is a commitment by the government and the CAA to make journeys quicker, quieter and cleaner. The Future Airport Strategy Implementation (South) programme covers 15 airports in the south of the UK.

6. The airport’s head of sustainability gave a presentation on the airport’s carbon ‘road map’ - the airport plans to reduce those Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions under the airport’s control to become a zero airport. He drew particular attention to the airport’s carbon footprint and action taken to date to to reduce direct emissions - e.g. solar panels, electric vehicle fleet, low energy lighting and other unspecified initiatives, with future ambitions mentioned such as biofuel.

 

[superking]

I wonder what is going on with the future in diesel vehicles in the city of Bristol.On a news report last week I think it was,Bristol council have ordered a new fleet of diesel vehicles.It makes me think that Bristol city council has some thing against Marvin rees plans to make the middle of Bristol and various parts diesel vehicle free.
You cant make a story like this up,as it does sound a little far fetched.I posted this here as I thought it might have some bearing on the airport road transport as well. If wrong thread please redirect to another forum.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I wonder what is going on with the future in diesel vehicles in the city of Bristol.On a news report last week I think it was,Bristol council have ordered a new fleet of diesel vehicles.It makes me think that Bristol city council has some thing against Marvin rees plans to make the middle of Bristol and various parts diesel vehicle free.
You cant make a story like this up,as it does sound a little far fetched.I posted this here as I thought it might have some bearing on the airport road transport as well. If wrong thread please redirect to another forum.

I think it's part of a long-term contract - a bit embarrassing for the mayor.

Just to keep it within BRS bounds, the airport management is naturally keen to emphasise anything that it's doing that will improve its environmental image. I happened to be outside the terminal a few months ago when the CEO was being interviewed by the local ITV news company in connection with the airport's publicity drive re its electric vehicles. The snag is that critics will always say that the airport cannot do anything about the emissions from aircraft. It could but that would mean voluntarily cutting back on air services which isn't likely unless it's forced to, and that would open up an entirely new scenario.

 

[alphagolf]

I have received another email from Mrs Brice, regarding a further email I sent about the airport generally distancing itself from the public.

Thank you for your email. My apologies for the delay in responding.

I note that you mention earlier attempts to contact me were unsuccessful and we will check the email links on the Bristol Airport Consultative Committee (BACC) website accordingly.

I am sorry you feel that the Airport and BACC is distancing itself from the public. I can assure you this is not the case. In fact, earlier in the year the Chairman attended several local parish Annual Assembly meetings to highlight the BACC and its work and, at the October meeting, the Committee revised its constitution to enable members the public to speak at Committee meetings (rather than just observe the meeting as had previously been the case). For information, I can confirm that public participation has now been agreed as belo


12. Public and Press

The wider local community and airport users should be made aware of the existence of the Consultative Committee and its role in relation to aerodrome operation, and how it may be contacted.

Members of the public are welcome to attend meetings of the Consultative Committee and they may address the Airport Consultative Committee about anything relevant to the Committee’s responsibilities. Anyone wishing to attend a meeting must notify the Consultative Committee Secretary by 5pm on the Monday prior to the meeting to enable the practical and security arrangements to be made providing details of their name, organisation represented and whether they wish to ask a question, speak on a relevant topic or observe the meeting. Questions from members of the public received three weeks before the meeting should receive a response at the meeting. The request will be reviewed and response will provide necessary details regarding visitor passes and car parking. Any member of the public wishing to ask a question or speak to the meeting will be asked to stand and give their name, and will be invited to speak for up to three minutes. Please be aware that Consultative Committee meetings are not an open forum for discussion, since the Committee is only permitted to deal with business on the agenda. If a response is required, the Chairman of the meeting will direct a relevant member of the committee or an advisory group to address the matter outside the meeting. The chairman may limit the number of members of the public wishing to speak on any one subject.

It is recognised that in some circumstances public access could hinder the flow of information, possibly preventing free and frank discussion. It may, therefore, be necessary to hold meetings, or parts of meetings, in private when matters of a confidential or sensitive nature are being discussed.

I hope this goes some way to reassure you.

 

[superking]

I have been banging on for months that the airport has distance it self from the general public. At least they know what is being said out and about. We will see what happens about news and general information being released. Nice 1 Alphagolf that you got a reply,thanks for sending e mail ti highlight the situation.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I second superking's remarks.

Thank you for your persistence in this matter, alphagolf.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Airport Consultative Committee Meeting 23 October 2019.

On 26 January 2020 I sent an email to the ACC secretariat pointing out that the minutes for the above meeting still hadn't appeared on the airport website and reminded them that the previous meeting's minutes took three months to appear. I also said that there were no dates shown on the website for any meetings in 2020 and that I supposed the first meeting of 2020 had or was about to take place, but no agenda had been published on the website.

I have received no reply but I notce that this evening (I've been checking the BRS website every day since Sunday) the minutes for the 23 October meeting have now been published and the dates for the first three meetings in 2020 are now shown.

The first 2020 meeting was on Wednesday of last week (22 January) and belatedly the agenda for that meeting has also now been published.

I've not done a precis of the 23 October meeting minutes. Most of it is run-of-the-mill stuff and can be accessed via this link.

Airport Consultative Committee: Papers

Learn more about how we engage with stakeholders in the local community and beyond through the Airport Consultative Committee. View meeting agendas and minutes, Government guidance and related group information.

www.bristolairport.co.uk

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I've now had an email from the ACC secretary this morning. She tells me that the minutes of a meeting are published after they have been approved by the committee which is done at the next meeting, ie three months later hence the delay in publication.

It didn't used to be like that as minutes would appear on the airport website within a few weeks of the meeting to which they related.

 

[superking]

They changed them that way,as if someone has a problem with the meeting,they have no time to put a case togeather with the next meeting around the corner.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I've now had an email from the ACC secretary this morning. She tells me that the minutes of a meeting are published after they have been approved by the committee which is done at the next meeting, ie three months later hence the delay in publication.

It didn't used to be like that as minutes would appear on the airport website within a few weeks of the meeting to which they related.

ACC Minutes for meeting held on 22 January 2020.

These have been available on the BRS website for several days despite my being told that minutes are not published until after the next meeting which approves the minutes of the previous meeting. I expressed surprise as this would be a new policy. Surprise, surprise, the minutes for the 22 January meeting have been published without waiting for the next meeting on 22 April to appove them. I can't help thinking that the 'explanation' was aimed at trying to find an excuse for the late publication of the 23 October 2019 minutes.

Anyway, as is increasingly the case these days the minutes provide little of substance that is not already in the public domain. That being so I've ceased setting down a precis of the various topics discussed as I used to do.

I will just mention the headlines for some of the topics:

Update on the Bristol South West Economic Link (BSWEL) - the current admin situation explained; funding and thus a start date has yet to be obtained.

CEO's written report - mentioned new routes and a new airline (Lufthansa) for 2020 with projected passenger numbers for the year, NSC planning application (was yet to be determined when the ACC meeting took place), demolition of OTB and carbon offset amongst other things.

Presentation on serving passengers with reduced mobility.

Airport Police Report.

Planning Updates.

Various statistics - most of which were disposed of in the minutes with the comment 'the committee received a report' without the contents being disclosed in the minutes, as has been the practice for a number of years.

Service Quality and ASQ results.

Bristol Airport Local Community Fund.

Press releases.

Recruitment of new ACC secretary - anyone fancy applying?🙂

A lot of the content in the minutes has now been superseded by both the NSC planning rejection and the coronavirus chaos in the industry.

The full minutes can be found here:

Airport Consultative Committee: Papers

Learn more about how we engage with stakeholders in the local community and beyond through the Airport Consultative Committee. View meeting agendas and minutes, Government guidance and related group information.

www.bristolairport.co.uk

 

[TheLocalYokel]

ACC minutes for meeting held on 15 July 2020

These have now been published. The meeting was held in 'virtual' form.

As can be imagined much of the discussion was taken up with the virus effects with a lot of it now out of date already. I won't do a full summary this time. Anyone wishing to read all the minutes can access them via the link below.

I will highlight a couple of matters:

There was a call from some members of the committee for the North Somerset Council representative to be altered from an officer of the council to an elected councillor. The committee is already heavily weighted towards parish council representatives and I can only surmise that the pressure came from that corner. For a long time the NSC representative has been the head of planning.

I must assume that elected representatives, from parish councils upwards, are honourable people and the demand has nothing to do with the NSC planning officers' support for the airport expansion planning application. The airport CEO said that having officers from NSC on the committee offers expertise which benefits the committee. Further discussions will take place outside the meeting with regard to NSC representation on the committee.

A member urged the airport not to appeal the NSC planning rejection because it is unnecessary and expensive and is against the wishes of the community. The airport refused to confirm or deny at that time but we now know they have since lodged an appeal. Another member felt the entire community was not against the expansion and a third member emphasised the importance of the airport to travel and business. The members are not identified but I will be very surprised if those supporting the expansion are local elected representatives. Business groups, the TUC and the travel industry also have members on the committee.

Airport Consultative Committee: Papers

Learn more about how we engage with stakeholders in the local community and beyond through the Airport Consultative Committee. View meeting agendas and minutes, Government guidance and related group information.

www.bristolairport.co.uk

 

[superking]

There was a ACC meeting today at 14.30
Dates for future meetings.
Weds 27th jan 2021
Weds 28th april 2021
Weds 14th july 2021 AGM this meeting All meetings start at 14.30. You have to apply to go to the meetings.