5.3 The process leading up to the publication of the UK December 2003 Aviation White Paper

In case you are not familiar with the British government’s legislative process, Box 2 briefly describes the role of the ‘White Paper’.

In June 1998, the UK government published a white paper on land, sea and air transport for the UK called ‘New deal for transport: better for everyone’ (DfT, 1998), which announced, among other things, the government’s intention to produce a new UK airports policy that would look 30 years ahead.

The new airport expansion process officially started on 12 December 2000, with the publication of the national consultation document ‘The Future of Aviation’ and the stated intention of producing an ‘Aviation White Paper’ in a couple of years. This work was initiated by the then Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions. This is now the responsibility of the Department for Transport, DfT, due to a government reorganisation – a reorganisation which, in itself, may have significantly affected the outcome of the ‘Aviation White Paper’ process, since the Minister for Transport no longer had ‘environment’ as an area of direct responsibility.

It is useful to note here that the UK government at that time had only recently taken power. The Labour Party (supposedly of centre-left orientation) had swept to power in a landslide victory in the 1997 general election, marking a big change for a country which had previously been dominated by the centre-right Conservative Party for almost two decades. The new government was keen to immediately make a mark and so set about implementing a series of reforms, including in the area of transport. Alistair Darling was installed as the Minister for Transport with the brief to radically change the face of UK transport. The ‘Aviation White Paper’ was reputedly one of his major achievements during his term in office.

Under the leadership of the Department for Transport, the approach to the ‘Aviation White Paper’ decision-making process had two main thrusts. The first involved detailed research undertaken by private consultancy firms intended to provide the government with objective data. These were often described as ‘studies’ and were published by the DfT. The second approach involved extensive nationwide consultation with particular stakeholders and the public at large. The DfT had a comprehensive website [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] and provided public roadshows of potential expansion options throughout the process. Consultation responses could either be carried out on paper and posted to the DfT or submitted online.

Box 3 shows the ‘Aviation White Paper’ timeline, starting with the publication of ‘The Future of Aviation’. Each major step in the decision-making process is marked by the publication of key documents. As you will see, the studies and consultations did not always follow each other in a logical sequence.

The timeline is hyperlinked to copies of the original documents. For example, ‘The future of aviation’ document was supported by two key publications: the ‘Air traffic forecasts for the United Kingdom’ and ‘Valuing the external costs of aviation’. You may want to familiarise yourself with the timeline and associated reports. There is, however, no need to read all the reports in detail. These have been included to give you access to the actual studies and consultations just in case you are interested in exploring the original material used within the decision-making process.