Plymouth is set to get a commercial heliport after plans were ambitious plan approved for a cliff-top site in the city.
The plush Victoria House, in the water’s edge Cattedown area of the city, already has a hangar and helicopter landing pad, with currently no restrictions on private flights.
Plymouth City Council’s planning committee has approved a scheme from Halo Aviation to run commercial flights from the site.
The operation will restore Plymouth’s air links to the rest of the 海角视频, nearly a decade after the city’s airport closed, with plans for shuttle flights to Newquay and Exeter airports.
There were 52 objections to the plans, including from the operators of fuel storage depots at Cattedown below the heliport location.
The industrial area is designated as a blast zone because of the hazardous sites, which store and distribute fuel delivered by tankers to the port.
But councillors were told the Health and Safety Executive had not advised against the heliport scheme, and the flight operation would still have to be approved by the Civil Aviation Authority.
They heard the two proposed flight paths were mostly across water to minimise flying over the hazardous sites and reduce the impact of noise from the helicopters.
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Halo Aviation said only twin-engine aircraft would be used, which had the highest safety rating. There will be a maximum of 340 commercial landings a year, and the heliport will also be available to emergency services and the military.
Commercial flights will be limited to between 8am and 10pm on weekdays, and 9.30am to 9pm on weekends. Ten commercial and 20 other landings a year will be allowed between 7.30pm and 10pm on weekdays, and the same between 6.30pm and 9pm at weekends, with only emergency use overnight. A larger building will replace the existing hangar and will have a control tower and space for three aircraft.
The council’s public protection team had no concerns relating to noise for homes, businesses or schools in the area, the planning committee heard during a remote meeting.
Planning officer Chris King said the current situation was that unrestricted private helicopter flights were allowed at the site and the application proposed bringing in strict controls.
Mary Aspinall, councillor for Sutton and Mount Gould, said the helicopters would make “an awful lot of noise and disturb a lot of people who live in the area.”
Eddie Rennie, also a local councillor, asked the committee to reject the application. He said residents were concerned about the risk of an accident involving the fuel storage tanks, which were in a designated blast zone. He told councillors: “It’s potentially a problem that could cause devastation if an accident was to happen.”
Adrian Rafferty of Valero, which stores up to 59million litres of fuel at its Cattedown depot, urged the committee to refuse the scheme because of the risks of an accident. He said: “The consequences of a helicopter related crash or other incident around the installation could be catastrophic”.
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He added: “No rational person could think of locating it so close to installations that store millions of litres of flammable fuel.”
Lead project pilot Jonathan Merrett of Halo Aviation said the site would “bring unique benefits in a safe and sustainable way”. He said the next generation of electrical vertical take-off aircraft were being developed and Plymouth could be a pioneer in the new technology.
After discussing the noise and safety concerns, the committee voted unanimously to approve the plans with a set of conditions, including to manage traffic on the access road which is on the route of the South West Coast Path. They asked for the operator to liaise with local businesses about flights.
Committee chair Bill Stevens said the scheme was a “huge vote of confidence in Plymouth”. He said it was important to remember that there were currently no limits to helicopter movements at the site.
He said: “What we’re doing with this, is actually regulating it - so it’s actually imposing some regulation and safety where none exists, through nobody’s fault, at the moment.”
The role of the Civil Aviation Authority to approve the safety of the operation was a key point.
The committee chair added: “I think this is going to be something we can be proud of. We have got proper standards, we’ve got a modern heliport ready to go for commercial purposes, and I’m very happy with the protections we’ve built in to safeguard local residents and businesses.”
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A spokesperson for the Coxside Neighbourhood Group said after the meeting that residents were “very disappointed” at approval for the heliport “on such a dangerous site”.
They said: “We firmly hope that the CAA will refuse to grant flight plans across such dangerous installations.”
A statement added: “We don’t agree that it is necessary to approve this application because the current position is worse - there are no current flights and haven’t been for quite some time.”
The group claimed the council had ignored advice from the Health and Safety Executive about the potential for a major accident.
Halo Aviation has said its operation would “far exceed” its legal safety obligations as a commercial operator, which are much tighter than for private use.