Letter to the Cornishman Newspaper

Thursday April 22, 2010

Today’s letter to the Cornishman from Chairman Tony White

Tony Jones, as a highly professional business man, is to be congratulated. It takes real skill to present a disaster as a triumph but he’s tried to pull it off.
We’ve not commented before as some of the proposals details were a little obscure but from the comments now in circulation it would appear BIH plan to relocate their operating and service base to Newquay and run their Scilly Isles service from Lands End Aerodrome. The site they pulled out of in 1964 after four months of summer operation in which they suffered over 14% weather related flight cancellations and which has been out of service for weeks over the past two winters.
So what will this move achieve?

- a further decline in Penzance’s independent retail trade

- drop in the day trip traffic to the Isles of Scilly, with Tresco, in particular, likely to suffer.

- an increased flood risk in the Eastern Green flood plain as around 13 acres of absorbent grassland is covered by supermarket roofs and asphalt car parking

- huge environmental noise, fume and visual pollution from Lands End to St Just over hotels, B&B’s, holiday homes and camping sites in West Penwith’s premier tourism location; an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the Heritage coast; an area whose beaches have been chosen by their visitors because of their beauty and tranquillity, beaches soon to be blighted by these ancient helicopters. The immediate loss of business and employment is inevitable.

- the transfer of a successful business [BIH] with no real competition to its unique selling points, which are almost entirely a result of its current location, to the base of its major competitor; a competitor whose flight operating costs, we are informed by our own experts, are about 70% lower per passenger mile and whose return ticket price undercuts BIH’s slower, smellier, noisier service by £35 per ticket

- dangerous and damaging road congestion, particularly during the summer months on the A30 and B3306, amongst others.

- huge increase in the County’s carbon footprint as a result of the tens of thousands of unnecessary extra vehicle journeys from Penzance to Land’s End Aerodrome.

We are told there is nowhere in the world where helicopters and fixed wing aircraft operate over the same route where the helicopter service survives. They are destroyed by their cost disadvantages, so in a relatively short time we will lose all BIH current employment and the peripheral business and employment it brings to accommodation providers, restaurants etc.

If Cornwall County Council are serious about the retention of a helicopter link to the Isles of Scilly they should purchase the site themselves and lease it back to BIH. The only reason for BIH’s decision to sell the site must be to release capital in the site, because any move from Eastern Green makes no commercial sense. If CCC take it over they could use part of the site for the harbour lorry park. Then they might even save some money, and paying the same price as Sainsburys would give them a marketable asset which they could sell on if and when BIH finally closes.
And if CCC aren’t prepared to make this investment perhaps they should urgently reconsider their harbour policy and bring in the fast twin hulled service, or within four years the Scillys are going to find themselves without a fast service link.
Meanwhile all we can say is: “Nice one Tony. What a well presented mirage. Your PR team must feel very pleased with themselves”

Tony White .Chairman Lands End Aerodrome Action Group