The Committee was advised that Tony Balcombe was currently unwell, in his  absence the Vice Chairman, Councillor Godfrey Olson, chaired the meeting.  It was agreed a letter wishing Tony well be sent on behalf of the Committee.  

The Committee was saddened to learn of the death of Edwin Perry and Brian Chapman.  Mr Perry served on the Committee for many years, and Mr Chapman served as deputy to Geoff Wilkinson. 

The Chairman welcomed Andy Kenyon and Beverly Pavey from National Air Traffic Services and Mrs Marian Brooke deputy to Geoff Wilkinson both of Southampton Action for Access.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 14 October 2010 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record, subject to amendment to the attendance to show Mrs Sue Broadbent was in attendance.

Dave Lees presented his report previously circulated to members with the agenda. The Committee was informed that since writing the report the Airport had won the Wanderlust Top Airport Award.   He then proceeded to answer questions arising from the report. 

Following details of the range of awards that staff had received coupled with the nominations for the Airport, the Committee expressed congratulations to the Airport and staff particularly those individually named. 

Referring to the forthcoming Olympics, Councillor David Airey asked whether the Airport were able to influence the Highways Authority to pay particular attention to managing local traffic as well as the extra traffic which would be caused by visitors for the Olympics.  He also requested that an ‘Olympic Update’ be included in the Managing Director’s report from now on. 

Mr Lees said although it was hard to quantify how many passengers would be using the airport there were links to 55 training camps from Southampton Airport and activities at Weymouth would continue throughout the duration of the event. 

Councillor Davidovitz asked Mr Lees to provide him with the relevant dates in order that he might request that Hampshire Highways ensure road works in the vicinity be avoided during this time. 

Geoff Wilkinson asked whether the level of complaints had changed since the Police had replaced their aircraft with a helicopter.  Mark Gibb said nothing specific had been noted but people tended to recognise the Police helicopter whereas the previous Police aircraft was indistinguishable from other aircraft.

The Committee noted the report and expressed thanks to Mr Lees.

The Committee noted the report by the Head of Regeneration and Planning Policy at Eastleigh Borough Council which summarised the statistics of operational activity at Southampton Airport for the period September to December 2010. The figures were provided by BAA Southampton in accordance with the Flying Controls Agreement, between the owners of the Airport and the Borough Council.

The Committee asked whether there would be expectation that the agreement would be breached during the Olympics, and whether it was anticipated that there would be a greater number of helicopter movements, with VIPs travelling on from the Airport.  Mr Lees said he didn’t anticipate the Flying Controls agreement would be breached however it was expected that there would be a greater number of helicopter flights going both in the direction of London and Weymouth.

Dave Lees presented his paper which provided background information on the Airport and the role of both the Consultative Committee and the role of the Chairman. 

Mary Finch expressed both her views, and the views of the Chairman of the Bitterne Park Residents Association.  She said paragraph 5 of the paper referred to the “Committee’s overarching objective to ensure the success of Southampton Airport” which she stated was not within the remit of the Committee as defined by the Civil Aviation Act.  She further went on to say that the success of the Airport was a management role and asked for this wording to be removed.  Mrs Finch stated that the inference from the Act was that the Airport Consultative Committee was a mechanism both to facilitate engagement and dialogue with local residents in relation to the Airport and its operation.  She also questioned the need to rush to make changes in the light of the fact that the Chairman had only announced his intention to retire from June 2011.

Councillors Neal and Osmond expressed their agreement in principle with the premise of finding an independent Chairman.

Geoff Wilkinson congratulated Mrs Finch on her comments and asked for clarification on the Constitution and whether changes would be required, and whether there was any provision in the Constitution for the Chairman to be paid. 

Richard Ward confirmed that in order to put the proposals into effect changes to the Constitution would be necessary and that this could only be achieved by obtaining the votes of a minimum of 16 members of the Committee, there were only 13 voting members present at the meeting.  He also advised those present that there was currently no provision for the post holder to be paid, and, when asked, confirmed that the Committee had not made payment to the current Chairman.  The current Constitution did not make any provision for the Chairman to be appointed by the Airport.  However there was currently provision for up to three persons to be co-opted on to the Committee for a period of three years. With reference to the Civil Aviation guidance he confirmed that this stated the Committee should provide facilities for consultation for persons having the management of the aerodrome, users of the aerodrome, any local authority  and any other organisation representing the interest of persons concerned with the locality in which the aerodrome was situated. 

Dave Lees stated he was happy to remove paragraph 5 of his paper which referred to the overarching objective of the Consultative Committee and to replace this with a sentence referring to compliance with Section 35 of the Civil Aviation Act.  He confirmed that BAA had paid expenses to the current Chairman.

Councillor David Airey expressed the view that the Committee was currently running successfully with the current Constitution and that, in his view, the resignation of the Chairman did not constitute a reason to change the Constitution.  He felt an appointment could be made from within the Committee. 

Councillor Eleanor Bell expressed the view that given there was currently no provision within the Constitution for the post holder to be paid, then a move toward payment would not be correct in the current economic climate.  Agreeing that independence was important Councillor Bell questioned whether it would be advisable for the Airport to appoint the Chairman which could conceivably be seen to compromise independence from the Airport. 

Councillor Osmond agreed with independence and felt that a panel comprising both the Airport Managing Director and a representative from the Committee would achieve this. 

Mr Lees felt an honorarium was best practice and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Committee reviewed the minutes of the Technical Working group, previously circulated with the agenda.  Referring to the item ‘Changes to the joining point to the north’  Mark Gibb  explained that changes were not recommended and that he was hoping to arrange to meet Robin Tice of the Winchester Air Group, at Winchester City Council offices, to explain in detail the reasons underlying this.

Mark also advised that the Multi-Lat enhanced track keeping system was to be installed on 24 February with the aim to go live in early March. 

Steve Thurston gave a presentation outlining investments recently completed at the Airport which included improvements to the Departure Lounge, Costas and Mitchells bar, terminal security, meeting facilities, solar runway guard lights.  Projects currently underway included breeze priority check-in and parking, and refurbishment of the duty free shop.  Although security at the Airport was currently completely up to the required standard improvements were planned.  Equipment improvements included the replacement of fire tenders in July, aircraft recovery equipment and following the recent inclement weather improved snow clearing equipment, also improvements to the Hampshire County Council, South West Trains, Airport cycleway. 

The Chairman welcomed Neil Garwood, Terminal Operations Manager visiting the Committee for the first time. 

Mr Garwood updated the Committee on the current passenger profile including differences in the typical passenger, the type of trip, the destinations, the increase in the use of sustainable transport, and the overall passenger rating year on year,

The Committee agreed that the Chairman and Honorary Secretary should attend the  Annual Conference in Aberdeen in June.  However this was being held on 8 and 9 June and therefore the date of the next Southampton Airport Consultative Committee meeting was being changed to accommodate this.