hull and humber chamber of commerce, industry and shipping ...

HULL AND HUMBER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND SHIPPING
MINUTES OF THE LOCAL AND REGIONAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MEETING
HELD ON 3 AUGUST 2000
PRESENT:
Nigel Halford (in the chair).
Brian Bauckham, Elaine Beckett and Peter Nears (Peel Airports), Chris Garrett,
Stephen Hawkins, Andrew Manderfield, Steve Parks, James Penman, Nick Pontone,
Dick Steel, Richard Whitehouse and Mark Willett.
APOLOGIES:
Apologies were received from Derek Hoad, Malcolm Scott, Peter Hadfield, Julian
Wild, Ian Kelly, David Wren, Matt Jukes, Paul Sewell, Freya Cross, Alan Menzies,
Mark Jones, Ian Stuart, Mark Sharpley, Peter Shipp and Roy Dean.
MINUTES:
The minutes of the meeting held on 4 May 2000 were agreed as a true and correct
record.
MATTERS ARISING:
Nigel Halford reported that the business centre at the Deep was on schedule and
also updated members on the progress of the Reckitts project.
PRESENTATION ON DONCASTER FINNINGLEY AIRPORT:
Peter Nears, Director of Land and Planning at Peel Airports, gave members a
presentation on the proposed redevelopment of RAF Finningley into a commercial
airport facility. He highlighted that Peel Holdings had interests in regional airports
and had acquired the freehold to the former RAF base at Finningley, following
successful development of airports at places such as Liverpool following the
acquisition of the former BAe site.
Peter Nears stated that the vision for the 800 acre Finningley site was to develop an
international airport serving scheduled, charter, freight and business aviation carrying
2.3 million passengers and 62,000 tonnes of freight by 2014. He highlighted that the
length of the runway would enable long haul services to destinations not presently
available in the region. He noted that the site had the advantages of a large
catchment area and close proximity to both the M1 and the east coast main line. It
was reported that the planning process for the development began in 1992 and that
there was still some way to go.
Peel Airports had predicted that that 2350 direct operational jobs would be created
with 3250 direct jobs and a further 1700 indirect jobs. It was noted that extensive
environmental assessments had been carried out. Peter Nears emphasised the
importance of the aviation industry to the UK economy and highlighted that the
project represented £80m million of private sector investment. It was noted that a
significant proportion of present passengers from the region travel to Manchester
airport although Finningley would not be on the same scale. Peter Nears
acknowledged the arguments of Humberside Airport and others who had expressed

concern at the development and he asserted that Finningley would grow the market
rather displace traffic from existing airports.
The Chairman enquired about the timeframe for the development and in response
Peter Nears indicated that it would largely depend on whether there was a public
inquiry, which could potentially cause a 2-3 year delay. Richard Whitehouse
reiterated the concerns of Humberside Airport and asked precisely where the
passengers would come from. Peter Nears expressed the view that there was
untapped demand in the region and felt that Manchester would lose more
passengers than Humberside as they were competing in the same market. Members
asked questions about a number of other issues including the effect on wildlife and
the development in the wider context of airports policy
The Chairman thanked Peter Nears for his presentation and indicated that the
Chamber would continue to keep a watching brief on the progress of the scheme.
CRIME AND POLICING IN THE HUMBER:
Nick Pontone tabled a series of recommendations on crime policy developed
following extensive consultation on the Chamber’s Crime and Policing in the Humber
briefing paper. The main recommendations were as follows:
Funding – to ensure that the funding available to Humberside Police is appropriate to
the level of crime in the area in relation to comparable areas in the UK.
Representation – to widen the representation on Humberside Police Authority to
better reflect the stakeholders in the local area, including the business community.
Innovation and Community Safety – to develop innovative pilot schemes to combat
crime with much better engagement of the local community, including businesses.
Police activity – Humberside Police should be seen to concentrate its resources more
on the issues which people are concerned about, e.g. drugs, violence and public
disorder and tackle these issues in a proactive way. It should focus on the root
causes of such problems.
Members welcomed the conclusions and indicated that wider discussion of the
specific recommendations should take place.
YORKSHIRE FORWARD ISSUES:
Humber Trade Zone – members considered the draft strategy for the Humber Trade
Zone. Nick Pontone outlined the background to the strategy and indicated that the
Chamber had welcomed the concept of a Humber Trade Zone. Members discussed
how the implementation of the strategy would be funded and it was hoped that
Yorkshire forward would in time have an appropriate level of resource to support the
objectives of the project.
Branding of the Region – the Chairman reported that the new brand for the region,
using the heading ‘Yorkshire – Alive with Opportunity’ had recently been launched by
Yorkshire Forward. Dick Steel commented on the way in which Yorkshire Forward
had used the Yorkshire rose and expressed the view that the brand had perhaps not
provided value for money. Steve Parks related the regional brand to the successful
branding process in Hull, which had spawned a great deal of activity behind the ‘cog’
marque.

Funding – the paper outlining the lobbying activity of the Association of Yorkshire and
Humberside Chambers of Commerce with regard to Yorkshire Forward’s budget was
noted. Members agreed that Yorkshire Forward needed appropriate flexibility in their
budget to be able to implement the objectives in the Regional Economic Strategy,
rather than act as a silo for spending of Whitehall allocated funds in the region. Dick
Steel raised the issue of SRB funding, which Yorkshire had managed the
assessment process of for the first time this year.
Sub-regional action plan – members discussed the draft sub-regional action plan for
the Humber, which would outline how the Humber region would implement the
Regional Economic Strategy. Concern was expressed about the balance of
organisations in the Humber who had put together the draft with four local authorities,
colleges, CityVision and the TEC all involved. It was thought to be strange that a key
economic strategy neither involved business organisations or universities at the
crucial drafting stage. The view was also expressed that the document failed to
identify action, and too often referred to review or strategy development. Dick Steel
indicated that he felt that assistance for declining industries to modernise and
transform themselves should be a high priority. The Chairman highlighted the
importance of clustering and related the action plan to the emerging European
Objective 2 programme.
KEY REGENERATION AND DEVELOPMENT ISSUES:
Members reviewed the progress of a number of key development projects in the area
including the stadium and the Deep. It was noted that outline planning permission for
the stadium would be considered on 8 September although it was thought a number
of issues needed to be resolved by that time.
The plans for a Digital Media Centre were also considered.
There was also a discussion about the success of the SRB6 bid.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS:
The progress of the bidding for the Small Business Service franchise in the Humber
was discussed. Nick Pontone reported that up to eight bidders had expressed an
interest in the Humber although it was likely that this number would be reduced.
Discussions about partnership arrangements were ongoing.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING:
The next meeting would be held on 2 November 2000 at 34-38 Beverley Road, Hull.