Member

Amendment 39 in my name echoes remarks made by the noble Lord, Lord Empey, in relation to drop-off charges. The difficulty that we have with aviation—and we have not spoken openly about it so far—is that we have a completely two-headed approach to it. On the one hand, we have solid fellows like the Minister saying that it is an engine of growth, that we want it to expand and we want structures in the law that will allow it to expand. On the other hand, we know that there are elements in the Government who would like to make it as restrictive as possible and to do so on climate grounds. The drop-off charges, in my understanding, are being driven by the latter—that is, by people who are, if not trying to limit aviation, at least trying to make it as difficult to access in a motorcar or even in a taxi as they possibly can in order to achieve modal shift. This requirement is placed on airports as a condition of practically any planning permission that they achieve, or any other sort of permission, whether for expansion or some other purpose. Airports then try to fulfil it in part with ever-increasing drop-off charges.