Airport given permission to build engine testing site

Norwich International airport has been told it can build an engine testing site which bosses say is crucial to the airport's future. City councillors yesterday gave the go-ahead for the testing site on the eastern side of the airport, despite objections from a number of people living nearby.

Ahead of the meeting, airport chief executive Andrew Bell had warned major employer KLM UK might look to leave the airport if permission was not granted and about a dozen KLM workers attended the meeting. A letter of concern signed by 320 staff at KLM UK was also sent to the council urging the committee to approve the application and not impose further restriction in order to protect their livelihoods. Permission for an engine testing site at the former fire training area at the airport was approved by city councillors back in 2010. But Gill Cook and her husband Peter, who own Quaker Farm in Quaker Lane, Spixworth, and the holiday cottages on a nearby farm won the right to a judicial review into that decision. The judicial review succeeded, with the High Court quashing the permission. That led to the fresh application, which sparked further objections from people unhappy at the noise which will be generated. But in the report which came before councillors, officers stated: "It is considered that, in view of the strong policy encouragement for growth of the airport and scale of the economic impact relative to the length of time disturbance, considerable weight should be afforded to the economic benefits associated with engine tests in determining the application." Permission was granted with a number of conditions, including controlling the hours in which engines can be tested. Other conditions were that there shall be no engine tests on at least 100 days each year and the airport must make available a publicly viewable log of when no tests will be scheduled.