Luton-10
Strikes planned.
https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/air/...-strike-action
https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/air/...-strike-action
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No valet parking, no vehicle collection, no buses. Just one of many Luton Airport companies under pressure not to raise wage rates due to low tender prices that maximise profits for the airport operator.
Short term £17.50 for 45 minutes
Mid term £35 for one hour and then £35 per day
Long term £30 per day.
It's a cash cow with huge profits that the operator keeps.
Short term £17.50 for 45 minutes
Mid term £35 for one hour and then £35 per day
Long term £30 per day.
It's a cash cow with huge profits that the operator keeps.
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It is no coincidence that Luton is noted for being a deprived town with widespread deprivation and that the airport and its related companies are the town’s largest employer. The term is in-work poverty. Just visit an airport job fair and count the zero hour contracts on offer. The airport needs to employ poor people as part of its business model.
Last edited by LTNman; 20th Jul 2023 at 04:56.
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Just the same at any airport then, or did you miss about Heathrow, Gatwick & Birmingham. Expect Stansted to be next. And it is not s UK problem
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ground-flights
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ground-flights
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And the best bit is that many have to work 24/7 shift pattens including Christmas Day to receive a pittance that ruins home life. No wonder there are so many vacancies.
Just the same at any airport then, or did you miss about Heathrow, Gatwick & Birmingham. Expect Stansted to be next. And it is not s UK problem
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ground-flights
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ground-flights
Add to that the privatisation of airports meaning another group of vested interests, shareholders, also want as much out of the businesses that further puts pressure on driving down costs.
Eventually something will have to give if the situation is to be resolved.
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I think those that support airport expansion no matter what have a blinkered view of Luton and have never worked in an airport environment,
See how long it takes to pick up luggage at around midnight. No staff. So where are the workers coming from for a 32 million airport?
See how long it takes to pick up luggage at around midnight. No staff. So where are the workers coming from for a 32 million airport?
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So the auditors are at the Town Hall to discuss their qualification of the accounts and the Council’s dodgy airport finances.
Well the Council has muted the live stream sound to avoid a public record of their dodgy practices.
Well the Council has muted the live stream sound to avoid a public record of their dodgy practices.
Last edited by LTNman; 20th Jul 2023 at 18:27.
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Here is just a small part of the EY audit draft report that I have got hold of and that I would speculate the Council doesn’t want you or the public to see. This section concerns the DCO together with its opening remarks in reverse order. There is more but it is too long for Pprune.
This is published here due to the Council muting and so suppressing a meeting open to the public.
DCO
To support our work in this area we commissioned EY Corporate Finance aviation specialists and reviewed the relevant work of the LLAL component auditor PwC. Corporate Finance’s remit was to review the rationale for capitalisation of DCO costs for the purposes of group accounts, in light of the significant impact Covid-19 has had to date and the uncertainties it raises for the future of the aviation industry and for London Luton Airport specifically. Further, the concession agreement with the Airport operator results in additional factors that need careful consideration in relation to expansion. The work of Corporate Finance included:
• An overview of the planning environment for airports through independent research of airport expansions in the UK.
• Obtaining and reading documentation which supports the feasibility of the DCO.
• Review of financial modelling supporting the DCO.
• An expert view on the incentives in the existing concessionaire agreement for the operator to
finance each phase of the Airport expansion schemes proposed in the DCO. The proposed expansion of the Airport is split into three phases:
• Phase 1 which is for adaptations to the existing Terminal 1 to increase the capacity of the airport
to 21.5 million passengers per annum (mppa) at a cost of approximately £274 million.
• Phases 2a) and b) which is for the addition of a new terminal and related infrastructure works to
increase the capacity of the airport to 32 mppa at a cost of approximately £2.7 billion
Based on the results of this work and other relevant factors we have concluded that expansion of the airport in line with phases 2a) and b) of the DCO is highly speculative, uncertain and is likely to have a reduced net present value. This conclusion is supported by the findings of the Council’s own external expert, Arup. The modelling performed by Arup does show an increased net present value of the Airport for phase 1. However, at this point, planning permission has not been obtained beyond 18mppa, there is no approved business case for the scheme and the financing and viability of Phase 1 remains uncertain. Further, under the terms of the concession agreement, the Council does not have contractual rights to enforce the concessionaire to undertake and finance expansion of the Airport. The Council will need to renegotiate the concession agreement to seek the concessionaire to carry out the expansion. There is no assurance that such an arrangement could be reached on mutually acceptable commercial terms.
In addition, further risks to expansion to Phase 1 could be brought about by ongoing legal challenges, objections, and environmental considerations.
DCO (continued)
In addition, further risks to expansion to Phase 1 could be brought about by ongoing legal challenges, objections, and environmental considerations. All the factors pose a significant risk to deliverability and timing of proposed phase 1 expansion.
Considering all of this we have concluded that a material value of capitalised expenditure at the end of 2018/19 on Luton Airport expansion schemes in the Council’s group financial statements does not meet capitalisation criteria under IAS 40 as an investment property asset under construction. We have not been able to obtain sufficient and appropriate evidence from the Council that the costs incurred to date on the DCO application are all, or in part, eligible to attributable to phase 1 of the proposed expansion. We are unable to conclude whether any of the £20.3million of capitalised costs have been reliably measured and accounted for as a capital asset in the group financial statements as at 31st March 2019. We therefore propose to qualify the 2018/19 financial statements opinion in the form of a limitation of scope.
As a result of significant weaknesses in the Council’s procurement and contract management arrangements and related breaches of laws and regulations, we have concluded the Council does not have proper arrangements to ensure it took properly informed decisions and deployed resources to achieve planned and sustainable outcomes for taxpayers and local people.
We have fed back to the Chief Financial Officer that the revised unaudited 2018/19 financial statements presented to the 28th July 2022 Audit and Governance Committee contained fundamental omissions in the accounting and disclosure on the valuation of Luton Airport and significant errors and inaccuracies in the updated critical judgements and post balance sheet event disclosure notes.
We therefore propose to issue an adverse qualification of our 2018/19 Value for Money conclusion.
This is published here due to the Council muting and so suppressing a meeting open to the public.
DCO
To support our work in this area we commissioned EY Corporate Finance aviation specialists and reviewed the relevant work of the LLAL component auditor PwC. Corporate Finance’s remit was to review the rationale for capitalisation of DCO costs for the purposes of group accounts, in light of the significant impact Covid-19 has had to date and the uncertainties it raises for the future of the aviation industry and for London Luton Airport specifically. Further, the concession agreement with the Airport operator results in additional factors that need careful consideration in relation to expansion. The work of Corporate Finance included:
• An overview of the planning environment for airports through independent research of airport expansions in the UK.
• Obtaining and reading documentation which supports the feasibility of the DCO.
• Review of financial modelling supporting the DCO.
• An expert view on the incentives in the existing concessionaire agreement for the operator to
finance each phase of the Airport expansion schemes proposed in the DCO. The proposed expansion of the Airport is split into three phases:
• Phase 1 which is for adaptations to the existing Terminal 1 to increase the capacity of the airport
to 21.5 million passengers per annum (mppa) at a cost of approximately £274 million.
• Phases 2a) and b) which is for the addition of a new terminal and related infrastructure works to
increase the capacity of the airport to 32 mppa at a cost of approximately £2.7 billion
Based on the results of this work and other relevant factors we have concluded that expansion of the airport in line with phases 2a) and b) of the DCO is highly speculative, uncertain and is likely to have a reduced net present value. This conclusion is supported by the findings of the Council’s own external expert, Arup. The modelling performed by Arup does show an increased net present value of the Airport for phase 1. However, at this point, planning permission has not been obtained beyond 18mppa, there is no approved business case for the scheme and the financing and viability of Phase 1 remains uncertain. Further, under the terms of the concession agreement, the Council does not have contractual rights to enforce the concessionaire to undertake and finance expansion of the Airport. The Council will need to renegotiate the concession agreement to seek the concessionaire to carry out the expansion. There is no assurance that such an arrangement could be reached on mutually acceptable commercial terms.
In addition, further risks to expansion to Phase 1 could be brought about by ongoing legal challenges, objections, and environmental considerations.
DCO (continued)
In addition, further risks to expansion to Phase 1 could be brought about by ongoing legal challenges, objections, and environmental considerations. All the factors pose a significant risk to deliverability and timing of proposed phase 1 expansion.
Considering all of this we have concluded that a material value of capitalised expenditure at the end of 2018/19 on Luton Airport expansion schemes in the Council’s group financial statements does not meet capitalisation criteria under IAS 40 as an investment property asset under construction. We have not been able to obtain sufficient and appropriate evidence from the Council that the costs incurred to date on the DCO application are all, or in part, eligible to attributable to phase 1 of the proposed expansion. We are unable to conclude whether any of the £20.3million of capitalised costs have been reliably measured and accounted for as a capital asset in the group financial statements as at 31st March 2019. We therefore propose to qualify the 2018/19 financial statements opinion in the form of a limitation of scope.
As a result of significant weaknesses in the Council’s procurement and contract management arrangements and related breaches of laws and regulations, we have concluded the Council does not have proper arrangements to ensure it took properly informed decisions and deployed resources to achieve planned and sustainable outcomes for taxpayers and local people.
We have fed back to the Chief Financial Officer that the revised unaudited 2018/19 financial statements presented to the 28th July 2022 Audit and Governance Committee contained fundamental omissions in the accounting and disclosure on the valuation of Luton Airport and significant errors and inaccuracies in the updated critical judgements and post balance sheet event disclosure notes.
We therefore propose to issue an adverse qualification of our 2018/19 Value for Money conclusion.
Last edited by LTNman; 21st Jul 2023 at 06:08.
Offering the right wages and decent working conditions might make finding staff easier, and that goes for just about any UK airport.
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Spot on comment. For years wage rates hardly moved as there was limitless supplies of cheap Eastern European labour willing to undercut the locals who drifted away.
Many of those Eastern European workers have either moved on to other jobs in a tight labour market or have gone home leaving a staff shortage.
Many of those Eastern European workers have either moved on to other jobs in a tight labour market or have gone home leaving a staff shortage.
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Just a small part of the EY audit
LTNman - I don't know why you are just posting to an obscure part of a website about something so serious. Send emails to people in central Govt in Westminster about this in a way that it cannot be ignored (or "filed" in Humphrey Appleby speak). Talk to journalists in the local press. Shout. Scream. Pester civil servants about this. Get somebody in a position of power to act on this. Force the issue. Be an aggressive little sh*t (not an insult, just how Mrs Johnson describes me when I want something). I used to live in Croydon, whose council went bankrupt - I know how seriously Westminster takes these things when residents protest in a targetted way. You know far more about this than any of us.
LTNman - I don't know why you are just posting to an obscure part of a website about something so serious. Send emails to people in central Govt in Westminster about this in a way that it cannot be ignored (or "filed" in Humphrey Appleby speak). Talk to journalists in the local press. Shout. Scream. Pester civil servants about this. Get somebody in a position of power to act on this. Force the issue. Be an aggressive little sh*t (not an insult, just how Mrs Johnson describes me when I want something). I used to live in Croydon, whose council went bankrupt - I know how seriously Westminster takes these things when residents protest in a targetted way. You know far more about this than any of us.
LTNMAN, go for it if you're sure of your facts!
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The sad truth is others I know have regularly contacted government and the press. They show little interest as it requires independent research.
Last edited by LTNman; 20th Jul 2023 at 21:39.
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Just like the Tories, when in power too long power corrupts. The Labour group have been in special measures for two years imposed by the NEC ruling that the local Labour group cannot be trusted yet they run the Town Hall and fill LRT with airport directors. They make Tower Hamlets seem like a well run council.
Eventually they will dig a hole that they can’t get out of and then blame the government. Let’s remember which Council received the largest bailout of any Council in the U.K during Covid because of its airport. The government said that the Council had to be more remote from its airport but now the exact opposite has happened. It is all going to end in tears, maybe not today or tomorrow but the clock is ticking.
Eventually they will dig a hole that they can’t get out of and then blame the government. Let’s remember which Council received the largest bailout of any Council in the U.K during Covid because of its airport. The government said that the Council had to be more remote from its airport but now the exact opposite has happened. It is all going to end in tears, maybe not today or tomorrow but the clock is ticking.