Urban-Air Port Thought Leaders - The Board of Advisors Speak Out
#005 Mike Forster
The former British Aviation Group Chairman and Heathrow Airport’s Strategy, Infrastructure & Sustainability Director - tells us what’s on his mind, in this second instalment.
Mike Forster at the Urban-Air Port AirOne Vertiport in the UK, overlooking cargo eVTOL flights taking off from the UAP Vertical Airfield alongside fellow guests at the launch event in April last year.
Part 2 - Getting Over The Line
In the previous piece I outlined what I saw as the challenges aviation infrastructure providers face. In this piece I will look more to what infrastructure providers need to do to overcome the challenges.
1) Be clear about the benefits. The assessment of benefits needs to be robust, evidence based with supportable assumptions. Talking these up without sufficient back up will damage the proposal in the long term and is not responsible when asking local residents and businesses to accept the impacts. Urban-Air Port (UAP) is working hard with their partners to really understand the benefits that the eVTOL ecosystem will deliver and to demonstrate how their solutions maximise the benefits available.
2) Look for ways that the benefits can be shared with the infrastructure developers. On Crossrail, which I worked on for around three years, the Mayor increased the business rates along the proposed line. This was rather a blunt tool as not all the business charged would benefit equally but it was a recognition of future value generation. UAP has always understood the need for additional commercial involvement and in their team are leaders in aviation commercial revenue generation from Qatar Airways Duty Free and elsewhere. When UAP developed their demonstrator in Coventry they served delicious food, wine and coffee / snacks at the Urban-Air Port Café and also provided free electric charging on their site for 15000 visitors.
3) Look for ways that the benefits can be shared with the local residents. Can the development contribute to the community rather than be imposed upon it. Interestingly, the Chancellor in his recent Autumn Statement promised £1000 per year for 10 years to people living adjacent to pylons needed to support renewable energy schemes in recognition that they were disproportionately affected.
4) Recognise the impacts the development will have and develop mitigations in collaboration with those affected. If noise is an issue can the planning shield those most affected? Is sound insulation an option? Will local traffic and parking be impacted and how can road layouts prevent this? Many of these issues will be specific to the location and scale of development.
“Noise, safety and sustainability are likely to be of concern to local residents and politicians and therefore are a big focus for UAP – as they should be.”
5) Look for Champions. If there are local politicians and / or national figures who can see that the benefits do outweigh the impacts they will be much more effective in making the case than the infrastructure developers. When UAP built their full-scale demonstrator in Coventry they did so with a strong local champion in Sunil Budhdeo and Coventry City Council who provided great leadership and support for the proposal.
6) Stay strong. Just to get to the start of the permission process takes huge effort and resilience and to meet views directly opposed - places a huge emotional pressure on those involved. However, if the benefits and impacts have been properly identified, and the case for development is still strong, then the team needs to stay strong and work through it! Staying the course and defining the course at the same time is incredibly difficult, but UAP are walking it with the industry at the tempo that takes everyone with them – and that’s vital.
“I have seen the UAP team in action and I am very confident that they have what it takes to make it through!”
