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NEWS
July 9th
2002
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Air show, arms
fair or corporate gateway to Europe? 'Influential arms dealers were invited to parties given by Prime Minister Thatcher and the French gave Akram Oje, an arms friend of Prince Sultan, the Legion d'Honneur. The French and British press went as far as to hint at official pimping.' -- Said K Aburish Farnborough Airport is known internationally for its now defunct Royal Aircraft Establishment, once a world leader in aerospace research. Farnborough Airport is also known for its biannual International Airshow, last held two years ago and the next to be held 22-28 July 2002. Once a showcase for the best in British aerospace, Farnborough International Airshow has degenerated into the world's biggest arms bazaar to which the world's most dubious regimes are invited at taxpayers' expense, even though the publicity still portrays it as a family day out to watch the planes. Less well known is the fact that Farnborough Airport is becoming a key component of globalisation, the business airport for Europe. Flying in and out of Farnborough in their executive jets are the businessmen driving corporate led globalisation. Contrary to the wishes of the people of Farnborough (1200 letters of objection), the Borough of Rushmoor in the summer of 2000 granted outline planning permission for TAG Aviation to build and operate a business airport at Farnborough, courtesy of the MoD. The planning consent granted was not only contrary to the wishes of the local community, it went against the recommendations of a planning inquiry that had only recently reported and broke the Local Plan that had only been agreed a few weeks before. The benefits, according to the Tory controlled council, were to business and included the safeguarding of Farnborough's aerospace heritage. There may be benefits to TAG Aviation and to their corporate clients who use Farnborough to control their global empires, for the people of Farnborough there are no benefits, they merely reap all the disbenefits. As to the aviation heritage, it is difficult to see what we safeguard transporting corporate clients on their mission to milk the world dry. Meanwhile, almost all the heritage that was on the site has been trashed for a business park, gleaming towers for corporate HQs. Rushmoor refused to declare the area a conservation zone, which would have helped safeguard the site. The local community suffers noise, pollution, and the risk of a crash. In excess of 80% of crashes occur on takeoff and landing. The crash zone at the end of the runway is where many of the residents of Farnborough live. A large number of trees in the town have been lopped and destroyed to give height clearance for the aircraft. According to the Secretary of State, there is a 25% risk of a crash sometime over the next 10 years. A 1 in 100,000 risk contour (the risk of someone being killed in a year) is used to define a Public Safety Zone. This is the zone in which no one is permitted to live, work or congregate, eg no houses, no schools, no office blocks, not even car parks or playing fields. At Farnborough the PSZ already encompasses non-permitted development - houses, offices, kindergarten, old peoples homes, and even Farnborough College of Technology (where several thousand students and staff may be at any one time). The kindergarten wished to expand but was refused planning consent on the grounds that not safe, on the other hand the airport was allowed to expand and put the kindergarten and surrounding residential area at risk! The surrounding natural environment has been destroyed. Hundreds of acres of heathland to the west of Farnborough Airport have been destroyed - all the trees have been removed, the undergrowth grubbed out and even the soil scraped bare. Gelvert Stream which runs through the area and drains into Fleet Pond has carried the silt burden into Fleet Pond leading to siltation and loss of waterweed and fish. The heathland also drains into the Basingstoke Canal. All three damaged areas are SSSIs, supposedly protected but English Nature has turned a convenient blind eye. Water on the airfield drains into Cove Brook, taking its pollution burden with it. Additional hard standing, new terminal building, hangers, are pushing additional water from increased runoff into Cove Brook leading to a greater risk of flooding in an area already at risk of flooding. Aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases, business aviation with its near empty aircraft is the most obscene example. A cosy and unhealthy relationship exists between TAG Aviation, BAE Systems, SBAC (organisers of the Farnborough International Airshow), MoD and Rushmoor Borough Council. Usually any major planning application is accompanied by glossy material giving a glowing if false account of a company's credentials. The TAG application was remarkably silent in this respect. TAG Group SA is registered in Luxembourg, TAG Aviation SA is registered in Switzerland. A business model that places TAG on a par with Robert Maxwell, drug dealers, money launderers and arms dealers. When a TAG director was questioned, he said it was deliberate to keep the company's affairs out of the prying eyes of people such as myself! What little we do know about TAG is that the people behind TAG are Saudi Middle East fixers - Akram Ojjeh and Mansour Ojjeh. Gerald James (former boss of Astra and a major player in the Iraqi Supergun affair) describes Akhram Ojjeh as a 'Saudi financier and Middle East arms broker' and links Akram Ojjeh to Wafiq Said who was the BAe-Saudi link in the Al Yamamah arms deal of the 1980s. Gerald James links all three men to Mark Thatcher (son of Maggie). BAe (as BAe Systems then was) shot into the big time with the Al Yamamah arms deal. At the time of the the Al Yamamah arms deal Akram Ojjeh, friend of Saudi Prince Sultan, was wined and dined at the highest levels in France and the UK. The French were sufficiently impressed with Akram Ojjeh's arms dealings that they gave him their highest honour, Legion d'Honneur. French and British press dropped dark hints of official pimping. BAE Systems is headquartered alongside the TAG operation at Farnborough. BAE Systems, together with SBAC, are the major backers of the TAG bid to operate a business airport at Farnborough. BAE Systems are major backers of and beneficiaries of SBAC. BAE Systems fly in and out of Farnborough on a regular daily basis. For the first time this year, executives and dictators alike will be able to fly direct into Farnborough for the Airshow thus avoiding long queues and possible confrontation with demonstrators, anonymity guaranteed. A major selling point being pushed by SBAC and TAG. Conservative leader of Rushmoor John Marsh works for BAE Systems. He claims there is no conflict of interest. Last summer John Marsh and Rushmoor chief executive Andrew Lloyd went on a freebie trip to Paris, courtesy of SBAC, to visit the Paris Airshow. They neglected to tell their own council of the trip beforehand. When they were later found out they claimed it was no big deal. Their excuse was to see how the Paris Airshow was organised. The local authority in Farnborough does not organise the airshow, it is organised by SBAC. It was claimed that the trip had no connection with the TAG planning application. At a planning meeting in August 2001, only weeks after the trip, the main concern was how the TAG application may affect the Airshow. SBAC are wanting to turn their temporary exhibition site, one of the largest in Europe, into a permanent site with its own motorway link, airport and nearby mainline railway station. To do so would require planning consent. Two summers ago the sponsors of the Rushmoor Green Day, an annual environment 'fun' day held in Aldershot (Home of the British Army) was sponsored by BAE Systems, the year before it was sponsored by McDonald's. Last year, FARA (the local anti-airfield group) were barred from having a stall at the Green Day exposing the environmental problems caused by an expanding airport. News of the ban in the local press coincided with news of the freebie trip to the Paris Airshow by Tory council Leader John Marsh (who also works for BAE Systems). When William Hague was Tory leader he flew into Farnborough during an election and used the TAG facilities to give a pep talk to the flagging troops. Gerald Howarth, Tory MP for Aldershot, bragged of how TAG now had the support of everyone from the lowliest councillor, through himself to the Party Leader himself. Tory councillors on Rushmoor still maintain the fiction that there is no conflict of interest when they deal with TAG. TAG have not yet acquired full planning consent but nevertheless operate their airport with impunity. They are able to do so by exploiting the loop hole of Crown Immunity. Legal advice given to Rushmoor was that the operation was unlawful as it lacked planning consent, but Rushmoor has refused to carry out any enforcement action. On the other hand enforcement action was served on a local resident for erecting a tree house, similar enforcements are regularly taken against residents for having untidy gardens or erecting a garden shed in the wrong place. During construction of the runway, work took place out of permitted hours giving local residents many sleepless nights. No enforcement action was taken. It was more important that TAG did not lose valuable flying hours during the day than local residents lose valuable sleeping hours at night. A supposedly cast iron legal agreement exists between TAG and Rushmoor. In it TAG monitor the air pollution, the noise levels, determine their own noise models, even monitor their own compliance! The agreement specifically excludes enforcement by third parties, ie local residents. TAG operate their airport under licence from the MoD. They will eventually lease the site from the MoD when they have full planning approval and a CAA civil licence. The heathland that has been cleared has been destroyed by the MoD on MoD land under Crown Immunity. It is MoD that has demanded of householders in Farnborough that they lop and clear their trees, trees that have TPOs (Tree Preservation Orders) which the Council has conveniently waived. The heathland clearance and lopping of trees has been carried out by MoD on behalf of TAG to give flight clearance. MoD want their cake and eat it. TAG pay for the upkeep and running of Farnborough and it's available to MoD should they need it. A condition of the lease between TAG and MoD is that the site is made available for the Farnborough International Airshow. Were TAG forced to shut down their airport, or TAG to go out of business and another operator not be found, the Farnborough International Airshow would cease to exist. State-corporate nexus, big business, globalisation, arms dealers, it's all here at Farnborough. Sources: Web: Keith Parkins has
led the campaign against Farnborough Airport. He recently took High
Court action (Keith Parkins v Rushmoor Borough Council) to force a safety
study, a study still to be carried out. He will be available at the
CAAT Farnborough International Airshow demo to answer questions. |