Hi Suzeman
If there has been a hearing in December apologies , because it was missed at this end, but is that not the very essence of the argument ..?
I checked the first representations, these were up until the end of November, it was the FIRST one which was televised on the Parliament channel, infact the hearing can/could still be seen by video link on the minutes section.
Quite interesting !
I cannot recall off-hand but I "think" it was 23rd 24th, it was two back to back days when Willie Walsh , possibly Virgin, the CEOs of LHR, LGW and STN all had their day in court CRUCIALLY THEY WERE FIRST UP, I would expect nothing less in this country BUT hang on why the hell were then followed by a motley collection of environmentalists !
OK it is not the airports fault but these other organisations were called in first, clearly because there is a feeling that their case deserves to be heard.
..are HACAN, RSPB etc really shouting louder than Manchester ?
My view is that Manchester is as important as LHR, LGW STN in this debate so should be banging the drum as indeed it did in the 80s.
I don't get Why do we have to be so subservient ?
Surely somebody s/b saying.....
"look we have infastructure in place",
"we have demand"
"we have the population centre in the catchment area ",
" we have the thee best transport and domestic airlinks (twice as many as LHR and LGW), and whilst Manchester is NOT the answer to capacity in the South East it could alleviate some of the problems with some Government impetus".
I disagree with your analogy that a 5minute slot about "Pension Funds" and "The City" is the driver to a platform on BBC Breakfast, 5LiveMoney, WakeuptoMoney etc although maybe BAe and Sainsburys were poor examples, but there are plenty of other much, much smaller organisations than Manchester Airport that get good airtime...
is there a larger employer direct or otherwise in the North Of England ?
.... get on the phones to Declan Curry, Andrew Verity and sell how important this is !
It's about not accepting second or third best, or the fact that we somehow have to work within the framework that's dictated to us...
Its about turning round perceptions AND not accepting what you think you need to hear !
Inform them that 40,000 people are dependent on employment at Manchester,
20m people live within the catchment area,
AND thee largest building project since the Olympics is about to get underway etc etc...
...is that 3rd item really not newsworthy ?
To get your voice heard you need to bang on doors...... I do earnestly believe that eveyybody is doing there best, but there is just an impression that we are pusssyfooting about too much.
If they are banging on doors, well why not "let us know". Micheal O Leary would....
Charlie Cornish was unequivocal in his condemnation of BA in a press release in November , it was thee best statement from the airport in years !
Direct and to the point !
I appreciate a major organisation may not want to air dirty washing in public but nothing changes MPs attitudes like bad publicity, being nicey nicey will simply not work !
Last edited by Bagso; 7th Jan 2013 at 09:56.