WESTMINSTER WATCH GARETH MORGAN
through expansion proposals, appraisal frameworks, consultation responses and so on to produce emerging thinking documents, an interim report and a final 344-page report… And gets told not only that his analysis is flawed, but that his integrity is, too. I’m sure he was expecting it but he is in the middle of a campaign where opponents are quite content to play the man as much as they are the game. And that is pretty much down to the fact that the Commission’s report was so forthright about the benefits of
BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE P
HEATHROW OPPOSITION MAY BE MISSING THE POINT
oor old Sir Howard Davies. He spends two and a half years of his life wading
The Commission’s report was so forthright about the benefits of Heathrow’s expansion
Heathrow’s expansion. It left almost no wiggle room in its analysis that economic growth and potential long-haul routes were the main advantages of Heathrow, but also recognised the noise and air quality issues, and suggested mitigating activity that should be
undertaken in a kind of “grand deal” necessary for expansion. Where do you go from
there if you don’t agree? Unfortunately, for those seeking a swift decision, the answer is “lots of places!” You can try and tackle the detail of the report – and Gatwick’s 50-page dossier shows that this is a critical part of their refusal to give up. They have been prominent in calling the report “superficial”, “flawed” and “biased” with the noise and environmental impact of Heathrow being underplayed. There are a number of politicians (most notably Labour mayoral hopeful, Sadiq Khan MP) who are happy to hitch themselves to that wagon. You can appeal to the
Sir Howard Davies
political fears of those ultimately making the decision on whether to accept the Report’s conclusions by stressing that Heathrow is undeliverable and ensuring that the big beasts on your side – Johnson, May, Hammond, Greening and Goldsmith – make as much noise as possible to demonstrate this. Remember also that this is the PM who gave his “no ifs, no buts” promise that there wouldn’t be a third runway.
40 BBT SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
You can go to the courts, or insinuate that you may, and we have seen local authorities, particularly in Hillingdon, the home of the airport, suggest that they will use the courts to highlight the deficient consultation around air quality. Gatwick is also indicating that the flawed methodology of the Report (as they see it) may be the basis for its own legal action. Whether these are successful is moot – the delay that they will cause is not. Finally, you can go after the integrity of Davies himself. The most flagrant example of this thus far has been likely Conservative mayoral candidate, Zac Goldsmith MP, claiming that Prudential (where Davies is a board member) buying £300 million of property in the Heathrow vicinity in the run-up to the Report was the smoking gun that proved it was not an impartial process. This is a campaign to bounce the Government away from endorsing a Heathrow expansion by making it so painful and potentially time- consuming that it is just not worth the hassle. What it does not do is try and contest the central argument of Davies, which is that it is Heathrow that would give us those routes to emerging markets that only a hub airport can generate and sustain – we must make sure that its proponents are equally vocal in reminding decision makers how important this is. ¢ See UK airports special report, p58
Gareth Morgan is a political lobbyist and director with Cavendish Communications (
www.cavendishpc.co.uk). He is an advisor to the Guild of Travel Management Companies (GTMC).
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
Photo: Geoff Moore/REX Features
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132