Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
available, partly with the nature of the economy and partly with specific constraints
and distortions. The competition among UK regions for inward investment has led
to large subsidies being offered in order to capture major investors, while lack of
adequate sites can lose incoming multinationals (
Sunday Times
, 1996, p9).
Those industries with a particular need for air service, either for shipments of high
value-to-weight items or to support just-in-time strategies or high-contact personnel,
do seem to locate close to aviation facilities, and with good reason. Surveys of busi-
ness parks near airports in the south-east of England show that tenants come mostly
from the electronics, pharmaceutical, information technology and financial services
sectors (Robertson, 1995). A survey in Austin, Texas, of high-technology industries
(Mahmassani and Toft, 1985) showed a high value of US$333 per pound for sur-
veying and drafting instruments, of which 48 per cent were air shipped, compared
with a value of US$1.3 per pound for all commodities, of which only 2.8 per cent
were shipped by air. The employees' propensity to fly per month, from the same sur-
vey, varied between 15 return flights for very small research and development (R&D)
establishments to 0.07 return flights for large manufacturing branches (Mahmassani
and Toft, 1985).
It can therefore be concluded that the introduction of new air service may gen-
erate new economic clusters, and overall national productivity may improve, as may
the balance of invisible trade. There may also be social benefits from a redistribution
of economic activity and wider benefits from tourism and visiting friends and rela-
tives (VFR) traffic, over and above those reflected in the price of the ticket (eg inter-
national harmony and its spin-off benefits). However, each case has to be evaluated
on its merits.
B
ALANCING
D
IFFERENT
I
NTERESTS
Assuming that benefits can be identified as well as costs, and these benefits will be
implicit (at least in the increased demand projections), the balance of interests still
remains to be assessed before a decision on development proposals can be taken. This
is normally handled through the political process, with great reliance on heuristic
judgement. In this way, for example, Strasbourg refused a plan by the express air-freight
carrier DHL for a courier hub that would create 1700 jobs, because of the environ-
mental impacts (
ACI Communiqué
, 1996).
Local agreements
The UK displays two different aspects of the balance between local and non-local
interests. Outside the south-east, the balance is between local communities and the
region containing that local community. The scale is relatively modest, the local and
regional need is recognized by the local communities (even if not to the extent of
pacifying them), and the impact is largely local. It is becoming common practice for
the balance to be struck by contracts, the so-called Section 106 Agreements, between
the developer and the local governments, outlining acceptable levels of activity and
operating procedures. Indeed, these contracts then make it possible to minimize the
time taken for a public inquiry. Manchester's second runway inquiry took only three
