Name: Civil Aviation (Consumer Protection and Regulatory Reform) Bill
Uploaded: 2026-10-20T13:00:10+00:00
Duration: 10881 s

00:04 - 00:22

Speaker 3

Thank you, and it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. I therefore hope that members will agree that a planned and thorough review delivered within 12 months is preferable to a report that cannot engage substantively with the issues at hand but delivered within six. And on that basis, I beg to move.

00:22 - 00:24

Speaker 1

I'd be very glad to give way.

00:24 - 00:41

Speaker 5

Thank you. Can I just urge him to bear in mind and consider the impact on residents near airports from my constituency of those who are affected by airport drop-off charges, but also hire vehicles who are creating a bit of a nuisance to public spaces, to green spaces and to gardens across my constituency.

00:41 - 02:25

Speaker 3

I thank my honorable friend for his intervention. He is a champion on behalf of his constituents, both those who are affected by drop-off charges, but also those, and he's spoken to me about this, who live in Prestwick, in Ponteland, in Woolsington, who are particularly affected by taxi drivers not being able to use the airport in the way that they want to and impacting on local communities. This is also something that was raised by me with local residents when I did a series of roundtables at Heathrow in relation to expansion. We need to manage all of those impacts very carefully, and can I just be clear that people do not deserve to have disruption and nuisance on their doorstep because we aren't getting these systems functioning in the way that they need to. Turning to government amendments two and three in my name, this amendment makes a related change to the commencement provisions of the bill.

As currently drafted, the review duty would come into force two months after Royal Assent. However, as the period for completing the review is measured from Royal Assent, it is appropriate that the duty itself also commences at that point, which these amendments provide for. These are technical and consequential amendments which simply ensure that the bill is tidied and operates as intended with the commencement provisions aligning with the revised review timetable. And on that basis, I beg to move. Turning to clause seven itself, as we've discussed, it requires the Secretary of State to conduct and publish a review into the impact of airport drop-off charges on airport users.

The review must be laid before both Houses of Parliament. I don't have much to add to the remarks I made when discussing government amendment one, but for the avoidance of doubt, let me quickly reiterate that we recognize the considerable strength of feeling that exists on the issue on this issue among passengers and parliamentarians.

02:25 - 02:27

Speaker 2

I'd be glad to give way, yes.

02:27 - 02:49

Speaker 11

Thank you, Chair. Like many people, my constituents have also raised issues around airport drop-off charges at Bournemouth University, which have gone up at Bournemouth Airport, I beg your pardon, rather, that have gone up to eight pounds this year. There are no public transport options to get to Bournemouth Airport, so I hope that the Minister and the government in this consultation take into account alternative routes to get to airports when looking at this issue in the consultation.

02:49 - 03:26

Speaker 3

Well, my honorable friend raises a very important point that one of the functions of airport drop-off charges as presently constituted is to facilitate mode share changes at airports and to encourage airport users to take public transport where that is possible. But it is true that across the breadth of airports in the United Kingdom, there is not consistent public transport availability. And I think those sorts of questions around provision, about whether free drop-off spaces are provided and the transparency with which they can be accessed is of major importance. And I thank my honorable friend for making that contribution. And I would be very glad to give way.

03:26 - 03:35

Speaker 12

Thank you, Chair, and I thank my right honorable friend for giving way. In North Somerset, we have Bristol Airport, which I was very glad to welcome the Minister to visit.