Phase I Development Programme

[expressflight]

Now that the sale has been completed I thought perhaps a new thread should be started to chart the progress specifically of the development programme.

Phase I comprises:

The railway station and car park.
The new control tower.
The airport hotel.

I assume the railway station construction will commence shortly to meet the Network Rail 'slot' for the trackside works in March with a planned opening date of 8 October 2009.

There will be further modernisation of the existing terminal in the short term, with the new terminal still planned to be open in time for the 2012 Olympics, this forming part of the Phase II development programme.

[Thames Gateway]

I am assuming from previous comments that Stobart Rail will be heavily involved in the station project now.
Strange there is nothing readily apparent on the matter of the purchase of Southend on the Stobart web-site - I guess they've been busy!

[roche]

Any ideas what the further modernisation of the existing terminal will involve ?

[expressflight]

The short term changes to be made are likely to be improvements to the coffee shop and the executive handling facilities.
I enquired because I wondered if a complete revamp of the existing terminal was in their minds, instead of building a new terminal, after the term "modernisation of the passenger terminal" appeared a couple of times recently in press statements.
I was told that there is no question of the existing terminal meeting SEN's needs by 2012 and it is expected that the new terminal will be open by that time.

[expressflight]

Carlisle City Council today granted planning consent for Stobart to build their new HQ at CAX. The consent is subject to Stobart resurfacing/strengthening the runway and building a passenger terminal (which I understand will involve converting an existing building) among other things.

Presumably Stobart will now exercise their option to purchase CAX.

This obviously brings closer the possibility of a CAX-SEN schedule being introduced once the SEN rail station is built, which could act as a catalyst to other operators choosing SEN as a London arrival point.

[expressflight]

Stobart Group have today issued an Interim Management Statement covering their operations from 24 October 2008 to today.
As far as SEN is concerned, the Statement says that "......the Group is making progress in developing a new railway station." and "Talks are at an advanced stage with a hotel operator for a new hotel to be built at the Airport."
Generally they say that their various operations are performing above expectations, apart from their port interests which have suffered a reduction in Far East import business.

[roche]

Isn't this the same stuff RAL used to churn out every few months? I thought there was an agreement in place over a year ago with Ramada to build the Hotel.

See Alistair Welch's comments posted from the previous forum, reporting on his speech at the Thames Gateway forum in January 2008.

As far as the hotel is concerned, he said that it will be under the Ramada name and that detailed planning consent would be applied for 'shortly'.

As for the railway station, I can only assume they're talking about making progress in terms of financing it, because nothing much else seem to have happened. I know they've talked about it opening in October this year for some months now, but they've previously mentioned late spring '09 and goodness knows how many other dates in previous years.

He confirmed that the Network Rail 'slot' for connecting the station to the track is set for March 2009, with the station coming into service in 'late Spring'.

There's been so much talk over the last 3 years or so about how a hotel will be up and running soon(originally by Christmas '08), how a new control tower is to be built - no apparent action there either - and how the station is to be built, that the cynic in me is starting to wonder if any of it will ever happen. How hard can it be to plan and build a hotel and station, even in todays difficult financial climate? Both have been in the planning stage for years !!
I'll believe it when I see the first builders, trucks and JCB's roll onsite and not before.
Just to prove me wrong, they'll probably all turn up next week now !!

[expressflight]

I can certainly sympathise with Roche's comments.

All I can say regarding the station is that I was told at the end of November that it was progressing to schedule - meaning an opening date in October 2009.
I think it is understandable that the hotel has been treading water for the past 12 months simply because the identity of the new owners was not known. I doubt that any hotel chain would proceed with a contract having that uncertainty hanging over them and potential new owners would no doubt want to rubber stamp any previous decisions in principle.

I think it really is too early to be doubting that these two projects will proceed as planned. OK, the dates given for both have come and gone but that is not unusual for many infrastructure projects is it?

Mind you, I too have seen grand plans for SEN come and go and I also will not believe it all until the diggers actually move on site.

[expressflight]

I have just, in fact, re-read the Press Release dated 28 January 2008 following the granting of planning consent by RDC for the station to be built before the new passenger terminal.
The timetable in that Press Release states that construction work will commence in February 2009, so I don't think we should be getting too concerned yet.

[roche]

I just drove down the Southend Road past the airport and am pleased to report that there is a big yellow digger working on the site of the new station. Looks as if work is now underway.

[expressflight]

Roche is indeed correct.
It's just been confirmed on the PPRuNe Southend forum that several Stobart Rail vans are on the site, the JCB is working and additional plant is being unloaded.
There we are, the SEN Press Release of 28 January 2008 said that work was due to start on the construction of the station in February 2009. For once something is running to schedule!
Never thought I would actually see the day though - it's only taken some 45 years!

[roche]

Talking of SEN Press releases, I'm rather surprised that the airports website has not been updated since the announcement of the sale in early December. I would have thought that the JAAP consultation and the start of work on the station would certainly be worthy of comment.
I wonder if there are plans to re design the website to reflect the change in ownership of the airport. At the moment, it's layout and colour scheme is almost identical to that of the RAL owned Biggin Hill airport.

[expressflight]

Even after it was revised last year the website has not been updated very often and I do feel more could have been made of it. I don't suppose it's at the top of the list of priorities but no doubt it will be changed in due course.
The work this week on the station was just the scrub and hedge clearance which had to be done before March in order to avoid disturbance to nesting birds. Otherwise the work could not have statrted until July. There could perhaps still be a short lull before the main construction work begins so maybe that is why there is no mention on the website.
'Passenger Terminal Today' reported this week that Stobart are within days of agreeing their 106 agreement with Carlisle City Council and this will trigger the planning consent for their new HQ and enable them to conclude their purchase of the airport. That will be another step towards getting scheduled services going.

[southendobserver]

Things are looking up, at last!

[expressflight]

I was told this morning that temporary traffic lights have been in use along Southend Road recently, apparently while access was created to the field alongside the railway line. Can anyone confirm that this means the actual construction work on the station has started?