Issue - meetings

To consider the report ‘Aviation 2050: The future of UK aviation. A consultation’.

RESOLVED that officers send the Council’s response to HM Government’s consultation on the Aviation Strategy Green Paper (ASGP).

Councillor Eke, the Portfolio Holder for Infrastructure, Transport and Stansted Airport, presented the report outlining the Council’s response to the Government’s consultation on the ‘Aviation Strategy Green Paper’ (ASGP). He said the Green Paper covered a wide range of topics relating to the future of the UK’s aviation industry and it was important for the Council to engage with, and shape, the emerging policy framework. He said whilst the ASGP was primarily concerned with economic growth, it also set out how to tackle the environmental impact of aviation. He added that it was vitally important to balance the desire for economic growth with the impact aviation has on the environment and local communities. He commended the report and the officer’s robust response to the consultation.

Councillor Gerard asked how the Government’s recent commitment to a net zero carbon emissions policy would affect the future of UK aviation policy, particularly as it was very likely to become law in the next 21 days as a statutory instrument.

Councillor Eke said this was a consultation and the comments supplied by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) would be taken into account by the Government. The Council’s response would comment on the need to either extend the consultation, or reopen the consultation all together to ensure this change in law was accounted for.   

The Chair added that whilst the overall target for UK emissions was net zero, the statutory instrument did not refer to any ‘levers’ or specific industries that would be targeted and it was too early to tell what impact the policy would have on UK aviation. 

RESOLVED that officers send the Council’s response to HM Government’s consultation on the Aviation Strategy Green Paper (ASGP).