farnborough new manager
Apr 26, 2007 20:22:47 GMT 1
Post by Admin (Annette Andria) on Apr 26, 2007 20:22:47 GMT 1
airport chief vows to talk to residents about future
TAG chief executive Brandon O’Reilly
THE man now in charge of Farnborough Airfield has promised to consult residents groups on any future plans for expansion.
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A master plan produced with input from the public will set out a vision for Farnborough Airfield and residents will be involved in trials to find new, less disturbing routes in and out of the airfield.
Brandon O’Reilly arrived at TAG Farnborough in November and sat in on the last five days of the independent public inquiry where the company set out its justification for wanting to increase the number of weekend flights it is allowed in its planning permission.
He told the Mail that since he took over as chief executive he had tried to be as open as he could.
“The work I have done since arriving is to try to engage the community as much as possible,” he said. “The residents’ associations play a key role in this. I think there’s a long way to go but I have tried to kick that work off in a spirit of openness. It’s just the way I work.”
Mr O’Reilly has already sat in on the Farnborough Aero-drome Consultative Com-mittee set up by law to broker a balance between competing interests around the airfield.
The day before he spoke to the Mail, Mr O’Reilly had a visit from Geoff Marks, chairman of Farnborough Airport Residents Association and one of
TAG’s fiercest critics, who spoke to him about his concerns about safety zones with more homes being built near the airfield.
Mr O’Reilly believes noise is still the main sticking point but said he was willing to look again to see if any other flight routes might cause less disturbance.
“We are never going to eliminate it altogether,” he said. “One of the ideas is to try to find a way of mitigating noise.
“We want to try to improve procedures so that aeroplanes don’t fly over noise-sensitive areas. We are working on this and the community has been working with us on it.
“Once these trials are complete and we try new noise paths to see how many complaints we get, we will adjust them until we get an optimum noise abatement rate.
“If they are successful we will go to the Civil Aviation Authority and ask for them to be made formal.”
At the public inquiry, which ended in April, TAG Farnborough was repeatedly pressed to reveal its business plan.
“The old business plan was written many years ago and is sort of irrelevant as it has been surpassed by events in general,” Mr O’Reilly said.
“I’m just about to write a new five-year business plan.”
TAG Farnborough will produce a master plan which will be a fully consultative document and eventually become part of Rushmoor Borough Council’s next ten-year planning strategy, the Local Development Frame-work.
“If there has been any uncertainty about what TAG Farnborough is about, that should go away,” Mr O’Reilly said.
“The salient points for the community will be in the master plan, with focuses on infrastructure, environment and mitigation measures.”
Whatever the master plan proposes, the prospect of any increase in the number of flights at Farnborough is likely to be as fiercely opposed by residents as during the recent public inquiry.
“It was a frank and robust exchange of views and observations — all good for democracy,” Mr O’Reilly said.
“It was a good process to have gone through. It was very good that everything was aired.”
All sides — the airfield, the council and residents — will await the final decision, likely to be announced towards the end of the year.
However TAG Farnborough insists that it needs more flights at the weekend.
“The weekend movement appeal is something we consider important,” said Mr O’Reilly.
“We have operated at just short of 2,500 movements at weekends ever since 2003.
“I can’t predict what the decision will be. It would certainly slow us down and our business down.”
Despite a 25% increase in flights at Farnborough since last year, Mr O’Reilly said TAG Farnborough, part of the wider TAG (Techniques d’Avant Garde) group, was still losing money.
“The growth we are seeing today, which is good, would undoubtedly slow as we get closer to a ceiling,” he said.
“We are not a profitable business and have never been so. This business has lost money every year. I hope in the next 18 months to 24 months I make a profit with the company, but it is not there yet.”
When asked what TAG Farnborough would do to put the company in the black if the appeal was rejected, Mr O’Reilly said there were no plans yet other than pushing the costs on to his business clients. “You can put prices up. You can charge aeroplanes more money. That becomes unsustainable after a while,” he added.
“That is not something I would anticipate doing. You either increase revenue or you cut your costs.”
A recommendation on whether to allow a doubling of weekend flights at Farnborough Airfield from 2,500 to 5,000 is expected to be made by June.
Planning inspector Ken Smith will hand his report to Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, who will make the final decision later in the year.
First printed in: Aldershot News and Mail
TAG chief executive Brandon O’Reilly
THE man now in charge of Farnborough Airfield has promised to consult residents groups on any future plans for expansion.
Advertisementyour story continues below
A master plan produced with input from the public will set out a vision for Farnborough Airfield and residents will be involved in trials to find new, less disturbing routes in and out of the airfield.
Brandon O’Reilly arrived at TAG Farnborough in November and sat in on the last five days of the independent public inquiry where the company set out its justification for wanting to increase the number of weekend flights it is allowed in its planning permission.
He told the Mail that since he took over as chief executive he had tried to be as open as he could.
“The work I have done since arriving is to try to engage the community as much as possible,” he said. “The residents’ associations play a key role in this. I think there’s a long way to go but I have tried to kick that work off in a spirit of openness. It’s just the way I work.”
Mr O’Reilly has already sat in on the Farnborough Aero-drome Consultative Com-mittee set up by law to broker a balance between competing interests around the airfield.
The day before he spoke to the Mail, Mr O’Reilly had a visit from Geoff Marks, chairman of Farnborough Airport Residents Association and one of
TAG’s fiercest critics, who spoke to him about his concerns about safety zones with more homes being built near the airfield.
Mr O’Reilly believes noise is still the main sticking point but said he was willing to look again to see if any other flight routes might cause less disturbance.
“We are never going to eliminate it altogether,” he said. “One of the ideas is to try to find a way of mitigating noise.
“We want to try to improve procedures so that aeroplanes don’t fly over noise-sensitive areas. We are working on this and the community has been working with us on it.
“Once these trials are complete and we try new noise paths to see how many complaints we get, we will adjust them until we get an optimum noise abatement rate.
“If they are successful we will go to the Civil Aviation Authority and ask for them to be made formal.”
At the public inquiry, which ended in April, TAG Farnborough was repeatedly pressed to reveal its business plan.
“The old business plan was written many years ago and is sort of irrelevant as it has been surpassed by events in general,” Mr O’Reilly said.
“I’m just about to write a new five-year business plan.”
TAG Farnborough will produce a master plan which will be a fully consultative document and eventually become part of Rushmoor Borough Council’s next ten-year planning strategy, the Local Development Frame-work.
“If there has been any uncertainty about what TAG Farnborough is about, that should go away,” Mr O’Reilly said.
“The salient points for the community will be in the master plan, with focuses on infrastructure, environment and mitigation measures.”
Whatever the master plan proposes, the prospect of any increase in the number of flights at Farnborough is likely to be as fiercely opposed by residents as during the recent public inquiry.
“It was a frank and robust exchange of views and observations — all good for democracy,” Mr O’Reilly said.
“It was a good process to have gone through. It was very good that everything was aired.”
All sides — the airfield, the council and residents — will await the final decision, likely to be announced towards the end of the year.
However TAG Farnborough insists that it needs more flights at the weekend.
“The weekend movement appeal is something we consider important,” said Mr O’Reilly.
“We have operated at just short of 2,500 movements at weekends ever since 2003.
“I can’t predict what the decision will be. It would certainly slow us down and our business down.”
Despite a 25% increase in flights at Farnborough since last year, Mr O’Reilly said TAG Farnborough, part of the wider TAG (Techniques d’Avant Garde) group, was still losing money.
“The growth we are seeing today, which is good, would undoubtedly slow as we get closer to a ceiling,” he said.
“We are not a profitable business and have never been so. This business has lost money every year. I hope in the next 18 months to 24 months I make a profit with the company, but it is not there yet.”
When asked what TAG Farnborough would do to put the company in the black if the appeal was rejected, Mr O’Reilly said there were no plans yet other than pushing the costs on to his business clients. “You can put prices up. You can charge aeroplanes more money. That becomes unsustainable after a while,” he added.
“That is not something I would anticipate doing. You either increase revenue or you cut your costs.”
A recommendation on whether to allow a doubling of weekend flights at Farnborough Airfield from 2,500 to 5,000 is expected to be made by June.
Planning inspector Ken Smith will hand his report to Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, who will make the final decision later in the year.
First printed in: Aldershot News and Mail