(a)

Plymouth City Airport was owned by Sutton Harbour Holdings Limited and was held on two related leases from the City Council for 150 years from April 2004;

(b)

under the terms of the lease Plymouth City Airport was entitled to close the airport in the event that it was not viable for its Principle Purpose, defined as a public airport providing passenger air

services on a regular and commercial basis to members of the public;

(c)

Plymouth City Airport Limited served a Non-Viability Notice on the Council on 24 December 2010 which gave 12 months’ notice of closure of the airport and the Council needed to respond to the Notice as soon as practicable, but in any event no later than the expiry of the Notice which would be on 23 December 2011;

(d)

in order to inform its decision on how to respond to the Notice, the City Council had commissioned three pieces of work -

(i)

with Plymouth Chamber of Commerce, an economic study of Plymouth City Airport and options for its future, carried out by Berkeley Hanover Consulting Limited (the study was circulated to Cabinet Members);

(ii)

due diligence on company accounts of Plymouth City Airport Limited, carried out by auditors, Grant Thornton UK LLP;

(iii)

soft market testing of potential scheduled air services using smaller aircraft (20-seat aircraft rather than the 50-seat aircraft in the ASW fleet) and alternative airport operators, carried

out by Oriens Advisers Limited;

(e)

the decision was a key decision but had not appeared in the Forward Plan and had been dealt with under the procedure for urgent key

decisions.

(1)

the Council accept the Notice of Non-Viability, dated 24 December 2010, that Plymouth City Airport Limited/Sutton Harbour Holdings Limited wish to close Plymouth City Airport for its principal use of providing public commercial air services;

(2)

the Council enter into discussions with Plymouth City Airport Limited/Sutton Harbour Holdings Limited with the aim of securing continued use of the airport for FOST and search and rescue on a temporary basis whilst future options are considered;

(3)

the area covered by the Derriford and Seaton Area Action Plan is amended so as to exclude Plymouth Airport, as identified in the report, and to incorporate this change in a revised Pre-Submission Draft of the Area Action Plan for further consultation;

(4)

until such time as the Core Strategy Review (Plymouth Plan) is submitted for public examination, officers are instructed to continue to apply the Council’s current planning policies and guidance for Plymouth Airport, including:

?

Adopted Core Strategy: Area Vision 9 (2) and Vision Diagram, Strategic Objective 14 (Delivering Sustainable Transport), Policy CS27 (Supporting Strategic Infrastructure Proposals) and Policy CS28 (Local Transport Considerations);

?

 Interim Planning Statement 16 (Plymouth Airport);

(5)

officers are instructed to work with partners to develop the case for better and more regular rail connectivity and infrastructure provision; lobbying ministers on these matters and preparing the evidence base to inform the Department for Transport of the requirements to be included in the ITT for the new Great Western franchise.