Hertfordshire's Local Transport Plan

5) Strategies and objectives

5.27 Airports

This strategy helps to deliver the following objectives:

To minimise any adverse effect of the transport system on personal health and the built and natural environment.

To provide a transport system which provides access to employment, shopping, education, leisure and health facilities for all, especially those without a car and those with impaired mobility.

To ensure that the transport system contributes towards improving the efficiency of commerce and industry and the provision of sustainable economic development in appropriate locations.

To work in partnership with transport providers and users to achieve an efficient, affordable and enhanced transport system which is attractive, reliable, integrated and makes best use of resources.

To raise awareness and encourage the use of alternative modes of transport through effective promotion, publicity and information.

Hertfordshire has two major civil airports immediately over its borders, Stansted and London Luton, plus Heathrow a relatively short distance to the south-west. Stansted handled over 9 million passengers in 1999 and London Luton about 5 million. Passenger flows are particularly heavy on the related radial routes, the M11 and the Lea Valley railway line from Stansted to Liverpool Street Station London, and the M1 and Thameslink line from Luton to Kings Cross. Employees are more widely spread on a range of routes close to each airport. The airports have a permitted capacity equivalent to about 15 million passengers per year at Stansted and 5 million at London Luton airport.

Both airports are in the process of bringing forward proposals for further development that would result in increased numbers of passengers and employees having to use the local transport networks. London Luton Airport have recently published a Development Brief proposing expansion of the airport up to 10 mppa, and Stansted are considering expansion to 25mppa. The potential impact of such developments on surface access in the affected areas of the county will require detailed investigation during the life of this plan.

Stansted and London Luton are major employers within their respective sub areas and are increasingly important as transport interchanges for air, rail (a new rail station Luton Airport Parkway has been opened near London Luton Airport to provide a better link) and regional and local coach and bus services. As important traffic generators the airports do create surface access problems, particularly on local roads, and the airport access strategies are integrated with the local strategies to provide area wide solutions.

In line with the guidance in the 1998 Transport White Paper, detailed in the 1999 DETR Guidance on Airport Transport, both Stansted and London Luton have set up a Transport Forum with local authorities and operators and are producing an Airport Surface Access Strategy (ASAS). Hertfordshire County Council is actively involved in both of these forums.

This LTP incorporates the two transport strategies for the airports as they stood in July 2000. They include targets based on existing information but it is recognised that more robust data on passenger modal splits will become available once a complete year of CAA 2000 surveys have been carried out. It would therefore be appropriate to review the targets in the first Annual Monitoring of the LTP to be submitted in July 2001.

Until these strategies are reviewed the transport strategies for each of the airports are as follows:

Stansted Airport

(a) To increase passenger transport usage by passengers.

In 1996 33% of Stansted's nearly 5 million passengers used passenger transport, 19% by rail 14% by bus and coach. The target identified in the ASAS is to increase the use of passenger transport to 35% of non-transfer air passengers by the end of 2000.

Hertfordshire County Council is working with the Stansted Area Transport Forum to set longer term challenging targets for passenger modal splits and determine the infrastructure, services, parking strategy and public information to realise them.

(b) To increase passenger transport usage by employees.

In 1997 97% of the nearly 7,000 on airport employees travelled to work by car, 93% as car drivers. In 1999 airport employment had risen to 8800, the ASAS target is to reduce employee car driver commuting to 88% by 2003.

Hertfordshire County Council is working with BAA Stansted and the Stansted Area Transport Forum to set further targets and the strategies to achieve them. These will include:

• the development and promotion of a company travel plan to be launched in Autumn 2000;
• continuation of the Stansted Airport employees' Travelcard scheme;
• support for new and improved local and regional bus and rail services;
• consideration of a future on-site employee car parking strategy and internal bus service.

(c) To investigate if further initiatives for road, rail and bus users are required to enable the local area, in particular Bishop's Stortford and Sawbridgeworth, and the A120 and A1184 in Hertfordshire to cope with the permitted growth in passenger throughput and increase in employees at Stansted anticipated by 2004/05.

(d) To monitor the impact of developing airport operations on the local transport network. There is increasing local concern over the impact of airport related traffic on local road networks such as the A1184 and the A120 west of the M11. The current road improvements for the airport (the dualling of the A120 east of the M11 and the south facing sliproads to the motorway) though welcome, do not directly address these concerns.

London Luton Airport

(a) To increase passenger transport usage by passengers.

There were 5.5 million passengers in 1999/2000. In 1996 13% of passengers were recorded as travelling by rail, coach and bus which increased to 23% according to the initial CAA first quarter 2000 survey results. The ASAS target is to increase the proportion of air passengers travelling to and from the airport to 30% by the end of 2001 and to 35% or above by the end of 2006.

(b) To increase passenger transport usage by employees.

There were 8000 employees in 1999. About 92% travelled to work by car and motorcycle. The ASAS target is to increase the use of other modes such that car and motorcycle commuting is reduced to 89% by the end of 2001 and to 84% by the end of 2006.

(c) To improve local and regional bus and coach services to provide better links within Hertfordshire to the airport for passenger and employees.

(d) To realise benefits of London Luton as a transport interchange, for rail and bus services, for the local area.

(e) To work in partnership with the Airport, modal operators and local authorities through the Luton Airport Transport Forum to help realise the objectives of this strategy. These could include:

• the development of company Travel Plans such that one third of airport employees are covered by the end of 2001 rising to at least a half by the end of 2006;
• a review of on site employee car parking.

(f) To monitor impact of developing airport operations on the local transport network, especially the A1081 and B653 in Harpenden.

Heathrow Airport

Heathrow has its own Transport Forum (on which the County Council is a member) which has been working on improving surface access links to the airport for some years. They have set a target of 40% of all passengers travelling to and from the airport by public transport by early 2000. Access to the airport from Hertfordshire can be best dealt with through the county and local (South West Hertfordshire) strategies in partnership where necessary with the Forum. At present rail access to Heathrow from Hertfordshire requires an interchange in London. The Airtrack and Crossrail proposals referred to in the Rail Strategy would enable direct connections to be made between Heathrow and Watford Junction, St Albans and Stansted Airport.

General Aviation

General aviation is the area of civil aviation which falls outside of scheduled passenger and cargo operations. It includes corporate aviation as well as flying schools and other aerial work (e.g. photography and surveys), plus sport and recreational flying. Hertfordshire has only two licensed general aviation airfields, at Elstree and Panshanger. In addition there are private airfields at Nuthampstead (near Royston) and Rush Green (near Stevenage).

Planning Policy Guidance Note 13, Transport, notes the importance of small airfields and the County Council will seek to protect general aviation facilities within overall planning considerations. It will also encourage airfield operators and pilots to seek to minimise the environmental impact (principally noise) on local residents.

Table 5.27(1) Performance Indicators

Table 5.27(2) Other Programmes