Public Safety Zone and other safeguarding.
Enhancing the safety and security of the site
Safety and security
Airport safety and security requirements are subject to a range of statutory regulations, for example covering access controls, passenger and baggage search, safety on the airfield and in the area surrounding the airport. We are committed to the highest standards in safety and security to meet or exceed regulatory requirements. As the airport continues to develop, we will enhance safety and security through the design and operation of new facilities, technologies and infrastructure.
Aerodrome safeguarding
We make every effort to engage and work with developers and other third parties at an early stage to ensure that aerodrome safety is not compromised while facilitating the ambitious development targets across East London.
Local planning authorities consult the airport on any planning applications that may have an impact on the safety of our operation. This process is known as aerodrome safeguarding and is intended principally to ensure that no obstacles are built which would conflict with the safe operation of aircraft. The statutory provisions are contained in ‘The Town and Country Planning (Safeguarded Aerodromes, Technical Sites and Military Explosives Storage Areas) Direction 2002 and DfT/ODPM Circular 01/2003.
We do not expect any changes proposed in this master plan to affect the current aerodrome safeguarding around the airport which has long been established. Because safeguarding is a function of existing physical obstacles, the runway configuration (which will remain unchanged) and aircraft operating procedures, which are prescribed by London City Airport’s Operating Licence (which is not expected to be affected by any changes shown in this master plan), the Obstacle Limitation Surface and other operational restrictions would be unaffected.
Public Safety Zones
The risk of air accidents occurring as aircraft arrive at or depart from the airport, while extremely low, is such that the use of land at the ends of the runway is restricted. These designated areas are known as Public Safety Zones (PSZs). The Government’s aim (as set out in Department for Transport (DfT) Circular 01/2010 ‘Control of Development in Airport Public Safety Zones’) is to ensure, through planning policy, that there is no increase in the number of people living, working or congregating in PSZs and that, over time, the number should be reduced as circumstances allow.
The airport’s current PSZ was published in 2010 before the approval of CADP in 2016. It was published by the DfT in 2010 and is shown on Figure 2.4. In determining the CADP planning application it was accepted by Government that the PSZ would be slightly larger. Because of an ongoing national review of the PSZ policy and risk calculation model, the Government has yet to formally request a refresh of, or publish, an update to the airport’s current 2010 PSZ.
Nonetheless, due to the nature of growth in demand that we anticipate (through a higher proportion of scheduled air transport movements and more modern aircraft which have a lower risk profile than, for instance, corporate and private aircraft) the forecast changes in the PSZ compared to the CADP PSZ are limited. Despite a forecast increase to 151,000 air transport movements by, the statistical risk of an incident affecting public safety would likely remain the same in overall terms (albeit in all scenarios the risks remain very low).
The airport commissioned the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) to undertake a third-party risk assessment to understand the implications of forecast growth. Figure 6.1 shows that the future predicted PSZ is broadly consistent with those previously predicted for the currently permitted 111,000 air transport movements per year (passenger and business flights). While the increase in the number of flights could marginally increase the extent of the PSZ when compared to the CADP PSZ, in practice we consider that it is more likely that the PSZ zones will be similar in size because over time the airport has the flexibility to phase out the operation of its Jet Centre which is largely used for corporate or private aircraft and prioritise its use by new generation aircraft.