The Inspector's Report following the Public Inquiry on BAA's application to extend the use of the existing runway at Stansted airport

Dear Ruth Kelly,

Together with the secretary of state for transport you called in,
on Monday 21 July, BAA's application for a second runway at
Stansted before announcing the decision on the expanded use of the
second runway is made known.

It seems to me unreasonable that you have done so, indeed that the
second runway application was allowed at all before your joint
decision on the previous application was announced and the
inspector's report released.

As a second runway would be predicated on the prior expansion of
the first it must appear that you have already decided to allow
this.

I therefore request that the inspectors report be made available
without further delay on these grounds and because it will be
necessary to all who wish to respond to the second runway
application. These applications are complex and individuals and
local communities are inherently at a disadvantage against huge
corporations like BAA with vast sums to spend. The continued
unavailability of the inspector's report adds to the disadvantage.

Yours faithfully,

John Drake
9 Woodside Cottages
Nathans Lane
Edney Common
Chelmsford
Essex CM1 3RD

I have receieved a reply to my original request from the Department
for Transport. The writer (Hannah Morton, Airports Policy Division,
Zone 1/26) refused to disclose the information I requested.

I have written back as follows:

Hannah Morton
Airports Policy Division, Zone 1/26
Great Minster House
76 Marsham St
London
SW1P 4DR

Cc Rt Hon Ruth Kelly MP, Secretary of State for Communities and
Local Govt.
Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP, Secretary of State for Transport

REQUEST UNDER FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT for PUBLICATION OF
INSPECTOR’S REPORT FOLLOWING PUBLIC INQUIRYON BAA’S APPLICATION TO
EXTEND THE USE OF THE EXISTING RUNWAY AT STANSTED AIRPORT

YOUR REF: P0004398

03 August 2008

Dear Hannah Morton,
Thank you for your letter of 25 July. I am not happy with the way
in which my request has been handled.

You have assured me that consideration of the Inspector's report on
G1 is still ongoing and that a Ministerial decision on it has not
yet been made. You have given this as the minister’s justification
for not publishing the Inspector's report at this stage. If this is
the case the situation is the exact reverse. The key determinant of
the application for a second runway – i.e. whether the expansion of
the existing runway will or will not be approved - remains
unresolved. All other matters on which the call-in notice says the
Ruth Kelly wishes to be informed are subservient to this – i.e. the
GI decision comes first.

Also the reasons you give for withholding the inspector’s report
are entirely the opposite of the true situation. It is in fact the
non-publication of the G1 inquiry decision and the inspector’s
report that is inhibiting “free exchange of views and prejudicing
effective conduct of public affairs”. This includes the
disadvantaged position in which it continues to place individuals
and local communities in responding to BAA’s application.

I therefore repeat my request that the Inspector’s report be
released immediately under the FoI Act. Failing that, the only
proper action will be for Ms Kelly to withdraw the call in letters
forthwith and not to re-issued them in any form until after the G1
decision has been published, along with the Inspector's report.

Note: I enclose hard copies for both ministers. I have also sent
this letter electronically, via the option offered on the FoI
website, to Ruth Kelly

Yours Sincerely

John Drake
9 Woodside Cottages
Nathans Lane
Edney Common
Chelmsford
Essex CM1 3RD