Dacorum Environmental Forum

Full Meeting – 26 July 2007

DRAFT MINUTES

Attendance

Phil Pennington	DEF Chairman
Douglas Walker	Resident DEF Vice Chairman
Andy Hardstaff	Countryside Management Service (minute taker)
Gruff Edwards	New Conservation Society
Sylvia Davidson	Friends of the Earth
Dennis Harvey	Hemel Nature
Paul Harris	F.O.E.
Marion Baker	F.O.E.
Francois Henderson	Dacorum Fairtrade
Jean Blackman	FOE
Norman Cutting	Berkhamsted Citizens Association
David Nobbs	Chipperfield Parish Council
Rudolf Kirst	Hemel Hempstead GM Action Group
Hazel Johnson	W.W.F.
Alan Johnson	Gt Gaddesden Parish Council, Green Party
Betty Patterson	Resident
Martin Hicks	Hertfordshire Biological Records Centre
Roger Hands	DEF Water Group/Box Moor Trust
Cllr Bert Chapman	Dacorum Borough Council
Cllr Alan Anderson	Dacorum Borough Council
Michael Blackman	Rambling Club
John Davis	LADACAN
J Lythgoe	Berkhamsted Town Council
G Stevens	Berkhamsted Town Council
Fran Allen	Resident
Gillian Storey	HH Friends of the Earth
Fleur Tucker	Berkhamsted Town Council
Mike Smith	HH Friends of the Earth

1. Apologies

None were recorded at the meeting

2. Minutes from the meeting held on 19^th April 2007 and Matters Arising

There were some corrections to the minutes

Item 8 - Should read as 0.9% rather than 9% - And will remain at 0.1% limit of contamination rather than GM free

Matters arising

Item 4 – DEF should ask to be consulted on the Environmental Impact Assessment for Waterhouse Square rather than leave it as a “possible”. There was some discussion and it was thought under the normal EIA processes that this consultation would be before rather than after the production of the EIA.

ACTION – follow up with Planning / Pam Halliwell

3. Luton Airport

John Davis from LADACAN (Luton and District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise) gave a presentation of some of the environmental issues regarding Luton Airport and aviation generally

Although the plans for the second runway have halted the airport throughput has grown, continues to grow and has the potential to grow further. In 1997/98 Luton Borough Council gave permission for the airport passenger throughput to increase from 2M to 5M and it is currently operating at 6.5M passengers per year.

The capacity can be increased by building more taxiways to the runway – as currently only the central portions of the runway are served by taxiways – if the ends had similar service more planes could take off and land.

Although on average aircraft noise is diminishing – this is not the case at Luton as a relatively young fleet operates from their which is based on up to date technology and will not be replaced for some years to come.

John showed some maps of flight paths showing the areas which could potentially be affected by aircraft noise on different approach paths – the approach and take off directions depend on wind direction.

Although globally aviation contributes 2% of CO₂ for the area around the UK this is 6% and the impact is greater than produced at ground level – the suggested multiplier of impact is 2.7 times.

The contribution of travel to and from the airport needs to be consider. For Luton the statistics cite 28% of passengers arriving by public transport – but this figure includes the shuttle buses running from the off site car parks!

Associated costs also impact on the wider community – the airport only contributed 1.2% of the cost of the new spur road.

A general discussion followed about issues such as the new flight path pattern, noise thresholds, difficulty in reporting noise issues, helicopters and night flights

http://www.ladacan.org – website about Luton Airport Issues

http://www.helicopter-noise.org.uk – noise from helicopters

01582 395382 – dedicated noise complaint line for Luton Airport

4. Water Group

Roger Hands gave a report as Paul Wilkinson from Halcrow was not able to attend due to having to concentrate on flooding issues.

The DEF Water Group is developing web pages within the DEF website.

Watford, Dacorum, Hertsmere, St Albans and Three Rivers are undertaking a flood assessment. River basin wide based on recommendations of Gardiner report.

Recent weather events have thrown up some interesting points

· 6 months of drought followed by 6 months of higher rainfall

· Condition of deflection weir at the Bury

· Some parts of the Hemel drainage system are not operating as well as their design would suggest

Questions and points were raised about development in river corridors and the recovery of the aquifer

Paul Wilkinson to be invited to the October meeting

(ACTION Roger Hands to invite)

5. Feedback from the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee

Phil Pennington gave a report on the two papers that he had taken to the council’s Environment Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Committee.

The reports were a general introduction to DEF and a case study of a litter reporting

problem.

It was hoped to establish a two way channel between DEF and the O&S committee.

Cllr Alan Anderson the new chairman of O & S endorsed Phil’s comments and said that the committee had received a presentation from the company running Luton Airport and had scheduled the Gade sustainability study into the committee’s work programme.

6. Any Other Business

There was none

7. Future Dates

The next meeting of the Dacorum Environmental Forum will be on

Thursday 25^th October 2007 at 7.30 pm , Civic Centre.

Future dates

Thursday 17^th January 2008 7.30 pm

Thursday 27^th March 2008 7.30 pm

Note: The Agendas and Minutes from the Dacorum Environment Forum meetings can be found on the Environment Section of the DBC website. www.dacorum.gov.uk