Isles of Scilly: Helicopter Services

Baroness Trumpington Excerpts

Wednesday 24th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I have read carefully the report produced by the Council of the Isles of Scilly comparing transport services to the islands with those of Scotland. It is a well written report, but I would point out that the situation in Scotland is different because it involves much more complicated and wide-ranging services that cannot be operated on a commercial basis. At the moment, the service to the Isles of Scilly is operated on a commercial basis.

[Baroness Trumpington]

Perhaps I might ask the Minister whether the air ambulance service will operate in that area when the ordinary air service ceases.

[Earl Attlee]

As ever, my noble friend asks a very good question. There is an air ambulance service that can deal with medical emergencies. In addition, there is the search and rescue service from the Royal Naval Air Station at Culdrose.

Aviation Policy

Baroness Trumpington Excerpts

Monday 14th May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, my noble friend behind me said, “I hope so”. I thought, “I hope not”. My understanding is that we did not intend to publish a Bill at this point. There is still much work to be done on planning the route, because we need to say exactly what powers we need, so I thought that it was a bit premature in any case.

[Baroness Trumpington]

My Lords, why is Manston never considered instead of a third runway? You have a ready-made runway at Manston, which is easy to get to from Dover. It has a lot of advantages and I do not understand why it could not be used.

[Earl Attlee]

My noble friend makes a good point. Manston’s runway is very long indeed, but it is also a long way from London and does not meet many of the requirements for a hub airport.