Lvp's and CATII/III approaches
The airport I most often operate into offers CAT II approaches without enforcing LVP's when cloud base is at or above 200' and vis is at or above 550m. (An Irish aerodrome)
For example: weather is broken 200' and vis of 10K.....
ATC offer the CAT II approach and apply procedures for protection of CAT II equipment (stop bars, separation, equipment redundancy...etc). However, because the entire airfield is visible from the tower below the cloud, ATC can visually confirm that gates are locked and there are no vehicles/aircraft infringing the protected zones.
It is only when the vis/cloud base conditions deterioriate below 200'/550m that they enforce LVP's.
Essentially, they view procedures for protection of CATII approaches as separate from LVP's. They see CATII protection as a 'high-vis' procedure when vis is at or above 550m and a low vis procedure when vis is below this.
Is this correct? I ask this because my company's SOP's require that lvp's are in place before CATII/III approaches are carried out. However, when cloud is broken 200' and rvr greater than 550m ATC will offer CATII approaches but will not enforce lvp's (because from their perspective they are not necessary).
The reason we want to do cat II rather than cat I approaches in these conditions is because the cloud base is rarely a uniform layer and sometimes you can arrive at minimums in a section of cloud with a downward bulge. It is better to land off a cat II than go-around off a cat I in this situation.
The ATC section in the Jeppy (section 7.11.4) does refer to CATII/III protection procedures and low vis procedures as separate things. However, my understanding was that LVP's were originally introduced (1988 I think?) with the primary intention of protecting CATII/III approaches and facilitating low vis takeoffs. Are the company SOP's inadequate?
I appreciate clarification.