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Civil Aviation Bill

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do not insist on its AmendmentsNos. 1, 2 and 4, in respect of which the Commons have insisted on their disagreement, and do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 4C and 4D in lieu. Airports have had the statutory power to charge for aircraft by reference to their noise for almost25 years. Many of our larger airports do so. Moreover, BAA already applies an emissions-related charge at Heathrow and at Gatwick, using the airports’ conditions of use. We believe, however, that it is important to put it beyond doubt that any licensed aerodrome has the power to set such emissions charges, should their local circumstances make it necessary. That is the key purpose ofClause 1. The Government believe that imposing a requirement that an airport's charges must be set by reference to noise and emissions would hamper airports' ability to reflect their own local circumstances. The Secretary of State will be able to require an airport to fix its charges in a way that takes into account its local environmental impact. This safeguard is already in Section 38 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 as regards noise charges; the power, now of course extended to cover charging by reference to emissions, is in subsection (4) of new Section 38. This power would be used if the introduction of noise and emissions-related charges at an airport seemed appropriate, and the airport operator was unwilling to do so. The Commons' Amendment No. 4C in lieu would qualify that power of direction. The Secretary of State would be required to have regard to the interests of people who live in the area of the airport in determining whether—and how—to make use of the power. The Government's intention in proposing this amendment was to acknowledge the concern of stakeholders, reflected in previous debates in this House, that the provisions of this clause did not take sufficient account of the impact of aircraft noise on people living near airports. By accepting Amendment No. 4C the Bill would place a duty on the Secretary of State to consider this when deciding whether to use his power of direction, providing an additional safeguard for the interests of a local community around an airport. The further proposed Amendment No. 4D to Clause 11 is a minor consequential amendment that would ensure that this new provision, like the power of direction to which it relates, was executively devolved to the Scottish Ministers. I am sure that on mature reflection the House will now see the point of the Government’s view that Amendment No. 1 would be disproportionate. It would impose a legal duty on all 140-odd licensed aerodromes to set noise and emissions-related charges. I argued forcefully against that in previous proceedings on the Bill. I recognise that the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, has now tried to address this issue by proposing a monthly level of commercial air traffic. It would become a duty for airports to fix their charges in this way. Although the noble Lord’s new amendment may seem attractive, and I congratulate him on his ingenuity in proposing it, I am afraid it has drawbacks that mean we cannot accept it. The first is that although it would compel some airports to fix their charges with reference to noise and emissions, it would so alter Clause 1 that other airports with lower traffic levels would not have the power to fix their charges in this way at all. Clearly, that is not something the Government want to see. Our position is quite clear: all along we have sought the power to be available for use by an airport dependent on local circumstances. It should not be dictated by some other broad criterion, which the noble Lord’s amendment introduces. Similarly, we are not convinced that fixing the requirement on the basis of monthly commercial traffic is appropriate. Commercial traffic fluctuates from month to month, whereas airports generally set their terms and conditions of use from one financial year to the next. As I have already noted, the local circumstance of each airport, and therefore the nature of its impact on the surrounding area, will be different. There remains a possibility that using the threshold recommended by the noble Lord would impose unnecessary regulation on some of the airports caught by the duty. For instance, Blackpool airport would be caught by the noble Lord’s proposed criterion, having just over 1,000 commercial traffic movements per month. Yet it will be recognised that Blackpool has relatively few residential neighbours, and the largest aircraft regularly using it are Boeing 737s, which are generally comparatively quiet. The airport is considering its operating instructions with a view to further minimising noise nuisance. Under the noble Lord’s amendment, Blackpool would fall within requirements and circumstances where the Government would not consider it necessary.