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Civil Aviation Bill

My Lords, the noble Baroness will recognise that that is the Second Reading speech. If she were in the other place it would be defined as such, and at this stage in a Bill it would be ruled out of order. Today we are discussing a very late stage of the Bill; we are not at the Second Reading stage with regard to airports policy. Therefore, I ask the noble Baroness to allow me to concentrate on the specific issues before us today under the Commons amendments. Charges are not the only lever—or even in the case of aircraft noise, the most significant one—that we will expect aircraft operators to use to address the impact of their operations on local people. The provisions of Clauses 3 and 4 of this Bill can do far more to drive improvements in the noise climate around airports. They will enable the operators of designated airports to charge penalties for breaches of the noise control measures the Secretary of State specifies. That is the impact of Clause 3. Clause 4 will empower the operators of non-designated airports to set up noise control schemes and to charge penalties for breaches. Of course, the revenue raised from those penalties will then be put to the benefit to the wider community. I would argue that it simply would not be appropriate to impose a legal duty on all licensed aerodromes to impose noise-related charges. Such a move would be entirely disproportionate when many of these aerodromes are small in size and cause little or no significant disturbance. Indeed this would run contrary to International Civil Aviation Organisation’s guidance that noise-related charges should be levied only at airports experiencing noise problems. I would also remind the House of the Government’s policy to do all they can to avoid unnecessary regulation. The essential aim of Clause 1 is to provide clear statutory powers for airports to fix their charges by reference to aircraft emissions as well as noise. In fact the British Airports Authority already has an emissions-related charge at Heathrow and Gatwick—using its conditions of use—but the Government believe that it is important that there are clear powers for all licensed aerodromes to do so, should their local circumstances make it necessary. As in the case of noise, there is not a case for imposing an obligation on all licensed aerodromes to impose an emissions-related charge. Given that the vast majority of aerodromes are not at risk of breaching air quality limits, it would be totally unjustified to impose such a widespread burden.