What went wrong at Newquay Airport?
THE three-week closure of Newquay Airport that cost council taxpayers more than £1 million happened because of a lack of communication and risk management by council chiefs, a new report has revealed.
The now disbanded Cornwall County Council, which owned the airport, had been due to take over running the airport from RAF chiefs in November.
But because it failed to get the correct licence from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in time for the RAF pulling out on November 30, the airport was closed down. Thousands of angry passengers had their flights cancelled and the shutdown cost the council more than £1 million.
Yesterday, John Mills, who carried out an inquiry into what went wrong, revealed his findings before a packed press conference at County Hall, Truro.
While insisting that the council had done a "terrific" job in ensuring Cornwall had an airport, he highlighted the problems that led to the disaster.
He said the three-year transition project from a military to a civilian airport had been going well until September 2008 when Selex, the contractor installing the new control tower, reported delays to the airport project team.
"The mounting risks were being catalogued by Selex for the project team and being reviewed at their many meetings together on site, but somehow these indications of heightened risk were not finding their way into upwards reporting to the chief executive and leading elected members. The project team was in constant touch with the Selex team and, over and beyond reports received, was aware, for example, of various difficulties Selex itself was having with its sub-contractors."
The delays over the control tower meant that the airport failed to obtain the necessary licence to operate from the CAA.
Mr Mills said that although the RAF had earlier stated it would stay on at the airport until the end of December, the project team had been confident that it could meet the November 30 deadline.
By the time the airport project team realised it would not make the deadline, it was too late to ask the RAF to carry on because of overseas military commitments, including the Iraq war.
Mr Mills went on: "There was an over-reliance – an assumption that the RAF would come to the rescue. There was a relaxed view about the November 30 deadline – probably too relaxed.
"Had the RAF been asked in September to stay until the end of December, all the evidence I have seen suggests that the answer would have been positive and they would have stayed on.
"By the time the RAF was asked to stay on, which was November 21, it was simply too late."
Mr Mills would not be drawn on whether or not the airport project team had been wrong in how it dealt with the escalating delays.
He said: "The management structure was not robust in the last couple of months of the project. Although there was some excellent management, there was no single over-arching board in charge.
"There was no single table where all could express their view.
"There was weakness and some confusion and accountability.
"Risk management at a corporate level was good on paper but in practice was not very good. Communication was not good.
"The pressure towards the end of the project mounted and it was too much for the team. It all led to a major panic."
The old county council ceased to exist in April this year when the new unitary authority took over.
Speaking after the press conference, Mark Kaczmarek, cabinet member for housing, said: "The report could have been stronger – it would have been better to have someone with an aviation background carrying it out.
"I'm pleased the council stepped in to take over the running of the airport – but a council should not be in the business of running a commercial venture like an airport.
"As soon as it is a viable concern, it should be sold on."
Dan Rogerson, Lib-Dem MP for North Cornwall, later described the project as ambitious but added that contractors should have been more involved in the process.
He said: "The report reflects the reality that the council took on an ambitious project in keeping the airport alive, and there were risks attached.
"There is some evidence that those risks could and should have been shared with contractors, keeping those responsible for doing the work involved in the timetable, so that the taxpayer would be protected.
"Doubtless the council will want to learn that lesson."
10 Comments
by Albert, Truro
Tuesday, August 04 2009, 12:05PM
“Anon of Truro, nobody is disputing the efforts or workmanship of those actually carrying out the development. Rather it is the fact that a simple oversight cost US (the ratepayers) a reported £1m because somebody 'forgot' to get the CAA licence. And yet nobody has held their hands up and apologised - that's what grates the most.”
by Dooby, Cornwall
Tuesday, August 04 2009, 9:08AM
“'we now have a facility that is the envy of many other airports in the country ....'
I beg to differ, most people I know who've used it have claimed it is the worst they've ever used, certainly the worst in the UK.
There are many other council owned and run airports in the UK, in northern and western Scotland. Free parking for as long as you like, and no rip off airport development fee.
£5 to fly out of a shed - we pay it as we have no choice.”
by Howard, Porthcothan
Monday, August 03 2009, 11:10PM
“What went wrong and continues to go wrong?
Lies, greed and a total disregard for consensus on low carbon development.”
by anon, TRURO
Monday, August 03 2009, 4:12PM
“All these comments come from people who are only responding to things that have been reported by the press who themselves had no knowledge of what was going on until after the 30 nov deadline ,the general public have little concept of the scale of the project as a whole , the reality is that a complete airport, that is lighting,RADAR,landing aids,ground to air radios,fibre optic networks,new 10,00ft runway,taxi way widening,fire station, water mains,11km of perimeter fence ,drainage ,control tower, in and operating in 8 months, all while it still operated as an existing RAF station with no reduction in existing aircraft numbers, it was stated that it was 3 years in planning, that may be so but not one bit of work was allowed !! to start on the airfield until April, without doubt with the gift of hind sight things could have been done different but I think that the people , tradesmen contractors ,who were actually putting in the hours on the ground deserve some recognition for the efforts they put in ,I believe many organised visits have taken place for council members to demonstrate the enormity of the construction but I have yet to see any comments of any kind from any of them .the fact that it was delayed in gaining it's operating licence simply played into the hands of those that could score political points from it, we now have a facility that is the envy of many other airports in the country ....”
by Albert, Truro
Monday, August 03 2009, 1:17PM
“Mr Mills observes that "somehow these indications of heightened risk were not finding their way into upwards reporting to the chief executive and leading elected members."
Typical local government employees - frightened of admitting they were incapable of dealing with the situation and concerned solely with covering their own backs and protecting their future pensions. After all, the ratepayer will always bail them out, won't he?
So, 2 questions. (a) why are these employees not being held accountable for their ineptitude and demoted to a job where they can cause no further damage? and (b) why did the then Chief Executive and "leading elected members" not ask for updates from the project team, rather than waiting to be given information? It's clear that senior management in our local government would struggle to run a market stall, let alone a major business like an airport. Hopefully Mr Lavery can get them sorted out and provide good value for his £200k pa salary.”
by Reg, Portugal
Monday, August 03 2009, 11:03AM
“What went wrong? SIMPLE: The wrong team, the wrong Senior Manager and the wrong Project Manager. Noone kept their finger on the pulse at any stage of this inept chaos. The whole thing was a shambles and crass inefficiency. I have said so from the start and my comments are archived in these forums. The Senior Manager and Project Managers should both be severely disciplined and sacked. The teams involved must have had a say and if, as I suspect, "went along" with anything they were told then they also should at the very least bemoved to another, lower staus, job. Endof.”
by PZ, Steve
Monday, August 03 2009, 8:00AM
“From the start there should have been financial penalties for delays written into the contracts with all vendors. And a person with business and management skill running the whole show. What this report outlines is that it was not circumstances beyond their control that caused the problems and delay, but unqualified people without the experience needed for such a project putting themselves in charge.
Its like entering into a F1 race with a ford escort then asking what went wrong once you lost the race.”
by jason, Toronto (ex pat fom Newquay)
Sunday, August 02 2009, 4:14AM
“Very Intresting Artilcle.... Well what a surprise NEWQUAY TOWN COUCCIL did not fail to recognise that there was significant risk in the contractor not meating the commited delivery date... alas they did not ask for a recovery/mitigation plan they just sat on their laurels and passed more planning applications for more apartments and bars/clubs in the town.... If industries were run in the same manner as the incompetent local goverments the reecession would be 10 times worse... PS lets think what waas the root cause of the problem - lack of communication between local government and senior leadership - alas everyone keeps thier jobs... Mmmm sounds like the gravy train - sign me up.....”
by Bob Burnett, truro
Saturday, August 01 2009, 8:57PM
“So, the reports been published. Lets hope the Council identifies the amateurs that project managed this fiasco and then deals with them in an appropriate way. Somehow, I think it will all be conveniently forgotten with tax payers continuing to pay their wages.”
by Brian, Bodmin
Saturday, August 01 2009, 10:52AM
“What went wrong?
in 3 words : Lib Dem Incompetence.”