§ 2.46 p.m.
§ Lord BOYD-CARPENTERMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether in view of recent delays in handling aircraft at Gatwick Airport and their policy of transferring further air services to that airport they will now reconsider their decision not to build a second runway at Gatwick.
§ Baroness STEDMANMy Lords, the White Paper on Airports Policy does not envisage a second runway at Gatwick Airport. I understand the British Airports Authority are satisfied that a single runway will be capable of handling the expected growth in traffic, including the services to be transferred from Heathrow.
§ Lord BOYD-CARPENTERMy Lords, does the noble Baroness recall, as recently as 7th December in this House in reply to her noble friend Lord Pargiter, giving an assurance of the adequacy of one runway at Gatwick only until the mid-1980s? If as recently as that date the Government were not confident that one runway would be able to cope beyond the mid-1980s, is it not about time that they at least started planning a second one?
§ Baroness STEDMANMy Lords, we are confident that one runway at Gatwick will be able to cope with up to 25 million passengers. That is a long way to go from the number using it now. There is an advisory committee sitting at the moment, investigating many of the points that were raised recently on Questions put to me in this House. For example, the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, asked whether we had taken into account the rising cost of fuel and the effect that would have. Other people asked us to take into account the size of the aircraft and therefore the fact that fewer aircraft would need to use the runway. All these matters are being looked at by the advisory committee and they will be making a report in due course. These are the things they are looking at in order 955 to establish what the procedure will be after the mid-1980s. The British Airports Authority are still satisfied that one runway is sufficient to cope with up to 25 million passengers a year at Gatwick for the foreseeable future.
§ Lord BOYD-CARPENTERMy Lords, may I ask this question: I observe that the noble Baroness restricts the indication of confidence that one runway would cope to the British Airports Authority. As she will have observed, my Question relates to the attitude of the Government. I should be interested to know whether her Answer this afternoon contradicts or relies on what was said on 7th December; that is, that the Government's confidence in this matter is limited until the mid-1980s. May I also ask whether that confidence, if it did exist then, has not been diminished by the fact that last month one small aircraft breaking its nose wheel held up all movements on the only runway at this important airport for a couple of hours?
§ Baroness STEDMANMy Lords, the Government are confident that we shall be able to handle the 25 million passengers on the single runway. We do not anticipate reaching that number even by the mid-1980s. So far as the disruption to traffic is concerned—when minor accidents or even major ones may occur on the one runway—the runway was closed for one hour and 59 minutes on the 29th December, following the collapse of the nose-wheel on a BAC 1–11, which I think is what the noble Lord is referring to. It took longer to clear than any other obstruction during the year. The second longest obstruction to that took 42 minutes to clear. There were 15 inbound flights that had to be diverted on that occasion and some of those eventually returned to land at Gatwick. Four or five take-offs were delayed; and since then on 3rd January this year a Viscount of Southern International ran off the taxi-way in the appalling weather we had. Three incoming flights were diverted then between 7.52 a.m. and 9.24 a.m., which, if my arithmetic is correct, is one hour and 32 minutes, and no take-offs were effected on that occasion. It is not a major job, and there is no major obstruction to the one runway. The airport has been able to cope. In the event of a really major emergency, there 956 are other London airports to which flights could be directed.
§ The Earl of CORK and ORRERYMy Lords, is the noble Baroness aware——
§ Baroness BURTON of COVENTRYMy Lords, after all that information, may I ask my noble friend one simple question? Is she aware that I cannot share her optimism about the 25 million passengers in the future, and the point that I should like to ask her about is this: Does she realise that the British Airports Authority is prone to take the position of one runway at Gatwick for the whole 12 months of the year, but that during July and August the crowding and the chaos of flights at Gatwick is really very worrying, and that to add additional numbers to those flights in those peak periods is something which I, anyway, consider the British Airports Authority has not considered?
§ Baroness STEDMANMy Lords, I know that my noble friend has concern about this, and I also know that she is not altogether happy with the replies that we have given. But the runway's capacity is estimated at 160,000 air transport movements per year. The current annual usage is only 98,000 movements, and that is with a throughput of about 8 million passengers. With the increasing numbers of passengers per aircraft, and with larger, wide-bodied aircraft, which means that fewer aircraft are using the airport in the 1980s, the British Airports Authority have advised the Government that they see no reason why a throughput of 25 million passengers a year should not eventually be handled on the single runway. We have to accept the advice of the experts and the consultants whom we consult on this, and we have our own independent studies going on as well. But at the moment we and the British Airports Authority are satisfied that one runway could handle 25 million passengers in due course.
§ The Earl of CORK and ORRERYMy Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that what my noble friend is proposing in his Question is another unplanned environmental disaster on the Heathrow scale? Will Her Majesty's Government now give urgent, rapid, quick and prompt attention to the proposal to build a new gateway international airport on Severn- 957 side, which is unlimitedly expandable and with offshore runways, close to the existing motorway network and linked to London and Birmingham via non-stop, high speed trains?
§ Baroness STEDMANMy Lords, I compliment the noble Earl on getting back to Severnside. I enjoyed replying to his debate on that issue. It is something of which we in the Department are aware. The Department have taken note of his point of view. But at the moment we are dealing with one runway at Gatwick, which we still say is sufficient to handle the traffic.
Lord MORRISMy Lords, will the Minister be good enough to assure your Lordships' House that when the Department concerned amends regulations affecting national flag carriers of foreign nations, the Department liaises most closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in order to ensure that no diplomatic embarrassment ensues?
§ Baroness STEDMANMy Lords, we have the closest consultation, both with the other countries involved and with our own Foreign Office. But I will certainly see that the noble Lord's comments are drawn to the attention of my Department, in order to make sure that that state of affairs continues.
§ Baroness HORNSBY-SMITHMy Lords, may I refer the noble Baroness to the reply which she gave earlier, when she referred to the alleged capacity for flights? Can she tell us whether the assessment of the capacity of Gatwick is based on a daily quota, or whether it takes into account the excessive loads which appear in the peak holiday season, which would make nonsense of the estimate?
§ Baroness STEDMANMy Lords, all the factors are taken into account in making the assessment.