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Civil Aviation Bill

My Lords, I, too, have concerns about where we are with this Bill. I do not believe that local controls are generally working. Is that surprising, given that many airports are in competition with each other? Some are owned by local authorities and create jobs, so they would have to be very strong willed to implement controls that can be seen to affect jobs and competitiveness. The fact that this has not happened for a long time indicates where the airports’ priorities are. Therefore, I have concerns about voluntary schemes. I remind my noble friend that air is also in competition with other modes of transport, such as road and rail, for which the Government seem happy to set ground rules and guidelines as to how competition should work. Those rules also cover environmental protection for road and rail, to try to keep a level playing field within the mode and in relation to costs. Given that in the Bill the Government have provided for variable charges for aerodromes based on noise and emissions, I fail to see why this cannot be made compulsory, as the opposition parties are suggesting. I have one last point. My noble friend said that there are lots of airports in this country that do not produce much noise or pollution, which is true, but I presume that, for a small airport with little pollution, the environmental and pollution charges are lower, so I would have thought that these things would come out in the wash. I do not think that this voluntary scheme is working at the moment, so I believe that there is a lot of merit in the amendment.