Chris Williams, who has been at the inquiry since it opened in May
1995, explains why the inquiry has taken so long, and why Terminal
5 is so important
Cameron McKenna has been instructed by BAA and
Heathrow Airport Limited since 1989 to advise on the project and
the Heathrow Terminal 5 Inquiry is now over 400 working days
old.
The proposal
The planning inquiry into Terminal 5 at Heathrow is
now the UK's longest ever inquiry. On any scale (financial,
engineering, or other) it is an immense project. The terminal, if
it is approved by the Government, will have a capacity of
approximately 30 million passengers per year, and will allow
Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport, to handle
approximately 80 million passengers a year by 2016. Apart from the
terminal itself, the project comprises the extension of the
Heathrow Express to Terminal 5, the extension of the Piccadilly
underground line, and a further 20 or so associated planning
applications and compulsory purchase orders. In addition, the
Highways Agency is promoting road orders to provide a spur road
link from the M25 to the new terminal. The total cost of the
project is now estimated in the region of £1.8 billion.
The need for T5
The special significance of Terminal 5 is that it
is of vital importance to Heathrow's continued position as the
world's leading international airport, and hence to London's role
as a world city. The leading European airports at Paris, Frankfurt,
and Amsterdam are all seeking to expand their capacity to operate
as European "gateway" or "hub" airports. Heathrow's leading
position is constantly under threat, and in order to maintain the
range and frequency of services from Heathrow which helps to keep
London's position as an European and world city, Heathrow needs to
expand its terminal capacity to meet its runway capacity. The
extent of growth in passenger demand over the next 20 years means
that Stansted and Gatwick will also need to grow, but these are not
alternatives to Terminal 5.
The inquiry
In order to allow a full report to be presented to
the Secretary of State who will make the final decision on whether
Terminal 5 should go ahead, the inquiry has been organised into
specific topics which address the national and regional importance
of Heathrow; the role of aviation within the UK economy; the effect
of the development on countryside, landscape, ecology, agriculture,
and archaeology; transportation issues including road access,
provision of railways, and public transport initiatives; aircraft
noise; air quality; safety; and the way in which the terminal would
be constructed. So far the inquiry has considered more than 600
proofs of evidence and other documents from major parties and
received over 20,000 written statements from members of the
public.
The future
There has been criticism that the inquiry has taken
too long. To an extent it is inevitable that a project the size of
Terminal 5 will become the subject of a lengthy inquiry, and it is
a feature of the current system that all objectors are given the
right to be heard, and to cross-examine. This is an important
feature of the British planning inquiry system. Nevertheless, there
is a general consensus that the Inquiries Procedure Rules need to
be reviewed so that major inquiries in future can be kept to a more
manageable length. The Government is currently undertaking a review
of the inquiry system, and has published consultation papers
proposing ways in which inquiries can be shortened. It has to be
recognised that in the vast majority of cases the inquiry system
works well, but in the case of inquiries into proposals of national
significance, of which Terminal 5 is a clear example, there is a
need in future for inquiries to be organised with stricter time
limits on the preparation and presentation of individual cases, and
with specific powers being given to inspectors so that these time
limits can be enforced. The system would also be improved if in the
case of major projects there was a clear statement of Government
policy and national need at the outset of the process, and each
topic, rather than these aspects being a matter for debate during
the course of the inquiry.
As far as the remaining programme for Terminal 5
goes, the inquiry is currently programmed to finish in the autumn
of this year, with a final decision by the Secretary of State
expected early in the year 2000.