Up, up and away for local airport

Ambitious plans to develop an international airport and a major commercial campus at Tubber and Horseleap have taken a massive step forward this week. The company behind the project, Midlands Airport Development Ltd, has begun formal discussions with An Bord Pleanala about submitting a planning application for the development. The project is to comprise an international airport, international modal distribution centre, commercial, technology, R&D and education campus, energy park, rail link and motorway interchange. The airport is being promoted as an international facility, rather than a regional airport. The proposal includes plans for Ireland"s longest runway, capable of hosting the largest passenger airliner in the world, the Airbus A380, at full capacity and full load. It means the focus of the airport may well be on low-cost long-haul flights to locations such as Australia, America, India and China. Discussions with the aviation industry have also helped to assure the developers of commercial support for this approach. Backers of the scheme are now hopeful that the airport, in its first phase, could be operational as early as 2012. Patrick Little of Axis Architecture, which has drawn up the plans, said ancillary companies involved in the other elements of the project would be interested in getting on site by the end of the year, if the planning process was completed within that timescale. Midlands Airport Development Ltd last week formally applied to An Bord Pleanala for an adjudication on whether the project fits the criteria for strategic infrastructural development. Under legislation passed in recent years, planning applications for certain large scale private development can be made directly through the strategic infrastructure development process to An Bord Pleanála. This is a fast-track mechanism which helps to bypass the local authority planning stage. However, a pre-application consultation with An Bord Pleanala is a mandatory first step. If, as a result of this pre-application consultation, An Bord Pleanala deems the Midlands airport project qualifies as strategic infrastructure, the developers will submit a formal planning application to the planning board directly, rather than to the local authority. He explained the company sees the project as a key catalyst of economic growth: 'This, as we would see it, is exactly what the country needs.' Mr Little argued the airport would help to develop this region and, as a result, Ireland, as a whole. 'Ireland needs to play as a team, rather than to focus on one single area. The gateways are members of that team and it"s important to get the highest possible performance levels from all members of the team,' he stressed. 'The Midlands Gateway needs to improve its game. It needs a real catalyst for economic activity to lift our performance. And he said the airport should not be seen as taking from Dublin, Shannon or other airports, but as a complementary facility. Asked how discussions with proposed investors were proceeding, Mr Little replied: 'Not badly.' He added this was particularly the case with potential investors in locations outside Ireland, where the credit crunch may not have impacted as badly. Mr Little added discussions with landowners in the region were ongoing.