Closure of a section of the A487 for approximately three months during summer 2008 to enable the extension of the runway at West Wales Airport.
The Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport has agreed the closure of a section of the A487 trunk road, north of Cardigan for a period of approximately three months, including the summer embargo period for trunk road works. During this period, trunk road traffic would be diverted along county roads.
Date of decision / Dyddiad y penderfyniad:
24 June 2008
Statement of information / Datganiad gwybodaeth:
1. West Wales Airport Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mann Organisation Ltd which acquired it in 2001. Since then the airport at Aberporth has been structured as a fully operational Civil Aviation Authority licensed site. It has acquired the necessary additional land and planning permissions to develop it into a more specialised flying facility, complementing Welsh Assembly Government’s investment and strategic aims for the aerospace sector, particularly Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), at Parc Aberporth.
2. West Wales Airport Ltd has positioned itself strategically in the UAS sector and has a world-wide reputation in the field. This position fulfils part of the Welsh Assembly Government’s sub-sector strategy for unmanned systems, without which the development of West Wales Airport would not be able to be realised. This is currently the only site in the UK to be able to undertake routine operations of civil and military UAS.
3. Aviation analysts now recognise that over the next 2 decades unmanned aircraft are set to overtake many of the tasks carried out by manned aircraft in both the civilian and military arena. This change in emphasis is driven by many factors including the capital cost of systems, pilot limitations, flight durations and cost of operation. The opportunities are as diverse as policing, border control, Customs & Excise, fisheries, environmental protection and search and rescue.
4. The UK armed services all now have extensive UAS programmes running, one of which is called Watch Keeper. This is being developed for use by the British Army and is to be both tested and released to service through West Wales Airport. The contract relating to the initial phases of the work is already valued at £5m, this has been awarded to QinetiQ with part of the work being contracted out to West Wales Airport Ltd.
5. The global market in the UAS sector is substantial. In 2002/03 the world market was estimated to be 1-2 billion dollars over 10 years whereas in 2006 the European military market alone had grown to 5.5 billion dollars, with an additional 1.2 billion dollars in the civil sector over the same period.
6. The demand for the development of the airport infrastructure relates to three key but inter-related opportunities for the West Wales economy. The first is the demand for the airport to have the facilities necessary to ensure its operation as a fully capable regional airport. This is fundamentally important in delivering guaranteed accessibility to the West Wales region in the absence of any other proposals for road/rail improvements for the foreseeable future.
7. The second is the unique and substantial opportunity to further consolidate Parc Aberporth as a Centre for Excellence for UAS developments. This requires the supply of a range of aviation related and other accommodation to complement its already unique UAS flying environment. Delivering this accommodation will better assist existing and attract further Military and Civilian UAS companies to operate in West Wales. In doing so it will not only support the over-arching strategic aim of Welsh Assembly Government’s Parc Aberporth investment but also supply the economic sustainability required for the site.
8. The third opportunity relates to the huge competition and challenge for high technology investment necessary to underpin GVA and jobs in Wales.
9. This project is underpinned by West Wales Airport Ltd winning the contract to provide test and evaluation facilities for the MOD's Watch Keeper project. Watch Keeper is a British Army contract worth £800m awarded to Thales Aerospace to provide UAS over a 20/30-year timescale. The test and evaluation phase will commence in November 2008 and although plan to cover an initial 18 month period is expected to still be operational beyond 2 years as it will include various upgrades of design. This will be followed by a further 2 years where the units are gradually released to service.
10. The development of West Wales Airport involves an extension to the existing runway to a length of 1,199m and widen the full length to 30m. This increase will enable aircraft carrying up to 80 passengers and a flight time in excess of 2 hours duration. To facilitate the runway extension, the B4333 is being diverted by Ceredigion County Council with the majority of the funding being provided by Welsh Assembly Government (DE&T mid region). The diverted B4333 will join the A487 trunk road at a new roundabout.
11. Construction commenced in January 2008. However, to meet Trunk Road design standards the height of the proposed new roundabout needs to be at least 2.5 metres above the level of the existing A487. Due to this level difference it is not feasible to maintain traffic on this section of trunk road during construction. It would be necessary to divert traffic along the county road network via Blaenporth, involving an additional journey length of approximately 800 metres.
12. In order to complete the diversion works, including the roundabout, enabling runway extension by 1 November 2008, it is necessary to construct the roundabout over the summer period. This would involve a trunk road closure for approximately three months, including the summer embargo period for road works.
13. Unless the construction works proceed through the summer, there will be severe implications on the Watchkeeper project and the long term development of WWA and Parc Aberporth. There is no doubt that the Watchkeeper project would be lost to Wales.
24 June 2008
Statement of information / Datganiad gwybodaeth:
1. West Wales Airport Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mann Organisation Ltd which acquired it in 2001. Since then the airport at Aberporth has been structured as a fully operational Civil Aviation Authority licensed site. It has acquired the necessary additional land and planning permissions to develop it into a more specialised flying facility, complementing Welsh Assembly Government’s investment and strategic aims for the aerospace sector, particularly Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), at Parc Aberporth.
2. West Wales Airport Ltd has positioned itself strategically in the UAS sector and has a world-wide reputation in the field. This position fulfils part of the Welsh Assembly Government’s sub-sector strategy for unmanned systems, without which the development of West Wales Airport would not be able to be realised. This is currently the only site in the UK to be able to undertake routine operations of civil and military UAS.
3. Aviation analysts now recognise that over the next 2 decades unmanned aircraft are set to overtake many of the tasks carried out by manned aircraft in both the civilian and military arena. This change in emphasis is driven by many factors including the capital cost of systems, pilot limitations, flight durations and cost of operation. The opportunities are as diverse as policing, border control, Customs & Excise, fisheries, environmental protection and search and rescue.
4. The UK armed services all now have extensive UAS programmes running, one of which is called Watch Keeper. This is being developed for use by the British Army and is to be both tested and released to service through West Wales Airport. The contract relating to the initial phases of the work is already valued at £5m, this has been awarded to QinetiQ with part of the work being contracted out to West Wales Airport Ltd.
5. The global market in the UAS sector is substantial. In 2002/03 the world market was estimated to be 1-2 billion dollars over 10 years whereas in 2006 the European military market alone had grown to 5.5 billion dollars, with an additional 1.2 billion dollars in the civil sector over the same period.
6. The demand for the development of the airport infrastructure relates to three key but inter-related opportunities for the West Wales economy. The first is the demand for the airport to have the facilities necessary to ensure its operation as a fully capable regional airport. This is fundamentally important in delivering guaranteed accessibility to the West Wales region in the absence of any other proposals for road/rail improvements for the foreseeable future.
7. The second is the unique and substantial opportunity to further consolidate Parc Aberporth as a Centre for Excellence for UAS developments. This requires the supply of a range of aviation related and other accommodation to complement its already unique UAS flying environment. Delivering this accommodation will better assist existing and attract further Military and Civilian UAS companies to operate in West Wales. In doing so it will not only support the over-arching strategic aim of Welsh Assembly Government’s Parc Aberporth investment but also supply the economic sustainability required for the site.
8. The third opportunity relates to the huge competition and challenge for high technology investment necessary to underpin GVA and jobs in Wales.
9. This project is underpinned by West Wales Airport Ltd winning the contract to provide test and evaluation facilities for the MOD's Watch Keeper project. Watch Keeper is a British Army contract worth £800m awarded to Thales Aerospace to provide UAS over a 20/30-year timescale. The test and evaluation phase will commence in November 2008 and although plan to cover an initial 18 month period is expected to still be operational beyond 2 years as it will include various upgrades of design. This will be followed by a further 2 years where the units are gradually released to service.
10. The development of West Wales Airport involves an extension to the existing runway to a length of 1,199m and widen the full length to 30m. This increase will enable aircraft carrying up to 80 passengers and a flight time in excess of 2 hours duration. To facilitate the runway extension, the B4333 is being diverted by Ceredigion County Council with the majority of the funding being provided by Welsh Assembly Government (DE&T mid region). The diverted B4333 will join the A487 trunk road at a new roundabout.
11. Construction commenced in January 2008. However, to meet Trunk Road design standards the height of the proposed new roundabout needs to be at least 2.5 metres above the level of the existing A487. Due to this level difference it is not feasible to maintain traffic on this section of trunk road during construction. It would be necessary to divert traffic along the county road network via Blaenporth, involving an additional journey length of approximately 800 metres.
12. In order to complete the diversion works, including the roundabout, enabling runway extension by 1 November 2008, it is necessary to construct the roundabout over the summer period. This would involve a trunk road closure for approximately three months, including the summer embargo period for road works.
13. Unless the construction works proceed through the summer, there will be severe implications on the Watchkeeper project and the long term development of WWA and Parc Aberporth. There is no doubt that the Watchkeeper project would be lost to Wales.