Stansted Airport”s proposals to run a series of public consultations on road and rail improvements, should a second runway open in 2015, have drawn a scathing response from the body opposed to airfield growth.
The Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) group has poured scorn on airport owners, BAA”s ”Surface Access Strategy” plan, that deals with passenger expansion through to 2030, but the airport maintains the body ”uses figures selectively”.
Speaking to ABTN today, SSE dismissed BAA”s ideas that aim to reduce car travel to the airport, return the Stansted Express to a dedicated service and add road diversions as ”slippery eel stuff”.
”BAA has a cheek in pressing forward with policies that fund its profitable car parking operations,” said SSE campaign director, Carol Barbone. ”Road expansion is the easy option and 74% of BAA”s [Stansted] profits come from car parking.
”It”s all double-speak and the way it”s phrased - they are very careful not to spell out traffic volume ” it”s about slowing growth rate”.
Not so counters BAA. Car parking charges are part of the CAA regulatory remit that offsets airline aeronautical fees and are ”not a cash cow”.
”It”s not something that we can manipulate,” said a BAA Stansted spokesman. ”For the 2005/06 financial year before BAA was bought by [Spanish group] Ferrovial, car parking accounted for 22% of our turnover, while local planning laws concerning the airport boundary [limit] are to stop towns and villages turning into car parks”.
Barbone claims that the Stansted Express ” the subject of much controversy ” will not be able to accommodate extra passenger volume should the airport secure a second runway that could see numbers rise from 24m to 70m.
”Because the line only has one track in each direction, it can”t cope with the volume of passengers, as there are only a couple of passing places,” she said. ”There is no hint of the track being expanded.”
BAA comes back with its assertion that 50% extra capacity is being potentially added to the track with four dedicated Stansted services every hour, as well as a second tunnel and regular stopping trains.
Barbone equally raises a genuine point of transport mechanics, namely that Stansted”s travelling mix makes it particularly unique when it comes to moving passengers around. She notes that 36% of London Heathrow”s traffic never leaves the airport, simply transferring to connecting flights, while Stansted”s focus is on point-to-point short-haul leisure flights.
BAA says that it will undertake its public consultations during a 14-week period across the Stansted region and that its Surface Access Strategy document has been the result of discussions with the Highways Agency, Network Rail, the Department for Transport and the Government Office for East England.
The Highways Agency is also to consult on its proposals to widen the M11 motorway south of Stansted between the M25 (junction 6) and the airport (junction 8) and on plans to improve access from the M11 and A120.