Welcome To Coventry Airport

Media Statement

6th April 2004

Following Warwick District Council's widely publicised decision on 31st March 2004 to threaten planning enforcement action against Coventry Airport, we wish to set the record straight.

First we would like to assure all valued passengers proposing to use Coventry Airport that it is 100% business as usual. We are absolutely confident that any threatened enforcement action against the Airport will fail, and that the Council has no legitimate grounds for taking action against the Airport.

Whatever may have been said or misrepresented by people, the truth is clear and simple. The facilities at the airport have been lawfully built. They are being lawfully operated. And the Airport is entitled to continue to use them.

What is more the Airport has taken full legal advice from a top QC and leading expert on its right to have built these facilities and to use these facilities. The Airport and its legal team is therefore completely confident that its rights will be fully vindicated through the legal process.

Second, it is all the more disappointing that the Council's decisions have been based upon fundamentally incorrect information about the nature and extent of the Airport works. Every effort has been made by the Airport to ensure that the Council is properly informed. The Airport has offered a meeting on site with officers or the Council members themselves, to identify each and every bit of work on site. The Airport has even offered mediation with an independent mediator so that the facts can be clearly understood. Inexplicably, both these offers have simply been ignored.

There can be no public interest in the Council acting in this way. It is not fair to the taxpayers who will pay the costs of the Council's mistakes. It is not fair to the Airport who is making every effort to work openly with the Council. It is not fair to the many thousands of people who benefit from the airport, whether they be passengers, employees or local businesses.

Third, the Council's actions are even more mystifying in light of the clear policy support for the Airport. The Council's own development plan supports the principle of a permanent passenger terminal at the airport. The Council itself has granted planning permission three times for such a facility. The Council has been instrumental in arranging for the relocation of the airport activities to where the current operations are taking place. And the airport receives strong support in the Government's White Paper for taking up to 2 million passengers per annum in the future. The Airport represents a major economic asset of the region, providing huge numbers of jobs and a highly sustainable location for international travel for the people of the West Midlands.

Coventry Airport will ensure that Thomsonfly is able to continue to provide its enormously popular, successful and efficient service from the airport. Thomsonfly will continue to offer its service from this quality facility. And the Airport will naturally defend its right to use the Airport in this way fully if it proves necessary.

The Airport remains ready and willing to work with the Council to resolve any differences. It urges the Council to work openly and fully with the Airport in return. That way this great asset and strength of the region can become a true benefit to all.

Media Enquiries Contact: Sue Lindsay +44 (0) 2476 308681

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