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Civil Aviation Bill

I am indebted to my noble friend Lord Davies for writing to the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, on this issue. If I have not entirely understood his reply today, he will understand that we have not had adequate opportunity to consider all the amendments he proposes. I want to ask him one or two questions. First, why is he introducing the amendment now in anticipation of a review which will report next spring? He may have good reason for doing so, but it is necessary for him to explain to the Committee why we are making the amendment now. Secondly, there is no provision in the amendment for any consultation with the local community. There is a certain amount of dissatisfaction in many communities. Is there a reason why this issue should not be dealt with by a communication? As I said in Committee previously, I had this responsibility on many occasions and certain communities were not prepared to argue about it. They thought they could drown out the Minister with their cries. That is not the case. It was possible to reason with all the stakeholders and I suppose that that is still the case. There issues are inconclusive and vague and should be dealt with by some sort of written communication. Furthermore, most local communities want good relations with the police. By participating in consultative committees, they have the opportunity for that. I may be mistaken, but I see no provision whereby local communities should have the benefit of close co-operation with the police. At least let them hear what is being said. In that way, they will either understand or not do so, but they will be better informed of the reasons for taking certain action. I hope that my noble friend will be able to reply to those points.