Consultative Committee (GPACC)

All UK airports over a certain size are statutorily required to have an Airport Consultative Committee. Glasgow Prestwick’s ACC was one of the first, having been in existence since the late 1960s, and infact pre-dates the legislation. The UK Government, through the DfT, issue Guidance for the operation of Airport Consultative Committees. GPACC take full account of this Guidance in its constitution, operation and role. The role of the Committee is to provide greater understanding both to the community, about airport operations and to the airport management company, about the local and environmental impacts of those operations and future proposals.

GPACC are fully independent of Prestwick’s owners and operators. This is helpful given the role that the Committee has. The Committee has worked effectively with a number of owners and operators over the years and has always acted in a role which can be summarised as one of “critical friend”. Since 2013 the airport has been owned by the Scottish Government and is operated by an arms length company, Glasgow Prestwick Airport Holdings.

The Committee has always recognised the airport’s role as an important local employer and an influential driver of the Ayrshire, South West Scotland and the Scottish economy and has sought to foster and promote this role where it can.

It also acts as a “critical friend” to the airport, monitoring change and challenging performance where necessary. It has a role in protecting and enhancing facilities for passengers, to improve the passenger experience. It promotes the exchange of information and ideas, helps monitor trends and increases effectiveness by drawing on local knowledge.

The Committee does not hold executive powers, nor is it a dispute resolution forum. However, it works, where it can, to promote discussion and resolution of any differences.

The CEO of GPA attends GPACC meetings and presents a quarterly report but is not formally a member of the Committee. In order for GPACC to carry out its role, it is essential that GPA managers participate fully in committee proceedings and engage with the committee at an early stage so that the committee can be involved with future plans and take a constructive role in their development, taking advantage of the specific knowledge and expertise members may have. The management should be willing to be influenced by the discussions and opinions of the Committee in order to make the process of consultation meaningful and they should be clear about where and why the Committee’s views cannot influence a situation.

The Committee’s Principles

GPACC work to a set of principles:

• Independent
• Representative
• Knowledgeable
• Transparent
• Constructive and effective

All ACC members are expected to participate fully in the work of the Committee. Members are expected to adhere to the following Code of Conduct:

• Respect: Committee members should treat each other with respect and courtesy at all times
• Commitment: members should dedicate sufficient time to prepare for and attend meetings, including seeking advice and views from others in their organisations as appropriate.
• Conflicts of Interest: members should identify and declare any conflicts of interest.
  Participation: members should be prepared to participate fully in meetings and when holding particular skill sets or experience of relevance to the airport’s current or future operations be ready to offer these.
• Openness and Accountability: members should be open and accountable to the organisations they represent about the work of the Committee.
• Confidentiality: members should respect the status of any confidential issues they discuss.

• To foster communication and build understanding between the airport and its users, local residents and the business community.
• To stimulate the interest of the local population in the development of the airport.
• To consider and comment upon the impacts of the airport’s administration, operation and development in relation to:
  • The airport’s survival as an ongoing business
  • The environment, including noise monitoring and track keeping
  • Surface access issues associated with the airport
  • Employment
  • The local, regional and national economy
  • The circumstances of local communities and their residents.
• To protect and enhance the interests of all users of the airport, particularly those of passengers.
• To consider and, if appropriate, respond to any factual and consultation reports, from Governmental and other sources, that are material to the future character of aviation or the operation of the Airport.

The Constitution of this Committee is subject to S.35 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 and conforms to Guidance issued by the Department for Transport in December 2015 on Airport Consultative Committees.

Title

The Committee’s title is the Glasgow Prestwick Airport Consultative Committee and is also known by the acronym GPACC.

Purpose

The Committee’s purpose is to enable the Airport operator, communities in the vicinity of the Airport, local authorities, local business representatives, Airport users and other interested parties to exchange information and ideas.

Officers of the Committee

• The Chairman of the Committee is appointed, as empowered by the Department for Transport Guidelines.
• The term of Office for the Chairman will be for a minimum of three years.
• The Chairman may in due course appoint a Vice-Chairman.
• The Secretary to the Airport Consultative Committee will be independent and responsible for servicing all Committee and Sub-Committee meetings.

Membership

The Committee consists of Members appointed or drawn from a range of organizations, for details of the members of the Committee and any Sub-Committees – see the Membership Page

• Membership of the Committee will be reviewed by the Committee every three years.
• A representative body may by written notice to the Secretary change their nominated representative on the Committee.
• If possible the term of office for members should be more than one year. Where a member is unable to attend, he or she may send a notified deputy of suitable standing. The details of nominated deputies should be communicated to the Secretary in advance of any meeting.

Meetings

• The Committee will meet quarterly at 2.00pm on a Friday in the Terminal Building, Glasgow Prestwick Airport or at such places and times as the Committee may determine.
• If business so requires, the Secretary, after consultation with the Chairman will call an extraordinary meeting.
• The Secretary will circulate an agenda to every Member of the Committee at least five working days before each meeting, specifying the business to be considered.
• Urgent business may be considered without notice at the discretion of the Chairman.

Order of Business

• Normal order of business which may vary at the discretion of the Chairman will be:
  (i) To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.
  (ii) To consider any outstanding business from the previous meeting.
  (iii) To receive any announcements from the Chairman.
  (iv) To receive minutes of (any) sub-committees.
  (v) To receive a progress report from the airport operator.
  (vi) To consider the business specified on the agenda.

Quorum

• The Committee will not make formal decisions unless at least one quarter of the organisations entitled to be represented on the Committee are present.

Minutes

• The Secretary will record the decisions of the Committee and submit them to the next meeting as minutes, subject to the agreement of the Chairman.

Notice of Items for Agendas

• Any items submitted to the Secretary by a Member at least ten working days before a meeting will be included on the agenda for that meeting.

Voting

• It is expected that matters will be resolved by consensus and that votes will only be taken on the membership of the Committee and sub-committees.
• In the event of an equal vote, the Chairman will be empowered to exercise a casting vote.

Disclosure of Personal Interests

• If a Member has a personal interest (whether financial or otherwise) in any Committee or Sub-committee business, he or she must inform the Chairman before the matter is discussed, and leave the room during discussion on the matter.
• The Committee may appoint sub-committees to assist the work of the Committee with such membership and powers as the Committee may decide.
• This Constitution will apply to meetings of Sub-Committees except that:
  (i) A Sub-Committee will appoint a Chairman at its first meeting.
  (ii) No business will be conducted unless at least three Members are present at a meeting.
  (iii) Frequency, dates and places of meetings will be at the discretion of a Sub-Committee.
• The Committee will review the number and composition of any Sub-Committee and may alter its membership or powers or disband it at any time.

Urgent Business

• With the prior approval of the Chairman, the Secretary may take any action on an urgent matter which cannot await the next meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee.
• The action taken will be reported to the next meeting of the Committee or Sub-Committee.

Advisors

• The Committee may call upon advisors to assist them in their deliberations. Such advisors should not intervene in Committee proceedings unless invited to do so by the Chairman.

Public Access to Meetings

• The wider local community shall be made aware of the existence of the Consultative Committee and its role in relation to the Airport’s operation and how it may be contacted.
• Meetings of the Committee will not normally be public meetings but as an exception may be open to the press and public at the discretion of the Chairman.

Confidential Items of Business to be considered by the Committee or Sub-Committee

• An item of business which in the opinion of the Chairman is confidential in nature shall not be circulated to the press or public, and shall be included at the end of the agenda to enable it to be dealt with by the Committee or Sub-Committee in the absence of the press and public. Decisions about confidentiality shall be made by the Chairman in consultation with the Secretary and the Chief Executive of the Airport.

Complaints

• Complaints may be referred to the Committee. However, the Committee is not an arbiter of final resort and it will not normally investigate individual complaints. Where, exceptionally, the Committee decides in the wider interest to review a complaint the details are to be anonymised so that identities cannot be determined.
• A summary of complaints regarding air quality and the results of the air quality monitoring programme, together with a summary of noise complaints will be provided annually to the Committee by the airport operator.

Membership

The Officers of the Glasgow Prestwick Airport Consultative Committee

Office Holders

A Chairman and a Vice Chairman are independent and appointed by members. The initial appointment is for three years, thereafter on a yearly basis. The Chairman and Vice Chair must act at all times on an impartial basis whilst in office.

The Secretary is also independent so that proceedings can be seen to be open and transparent and there is no undue influence by the company on committee matters. The Secretary prepares minutes and papers for meetings and circulates them in advance, draws up the agenda in consultation with the Chairman, maintains the committee’s website and draws up responses to official consultations and other matters as needed.

The Treasurer is drawn from the Committee membership and operates GPACC’s bank account. The treasurer presents an annual statement of accounts in January each year. GPA does not currently provide any funding towards the effective working of the committee.

GPACC are members of the United Kingdom Association of Airport Consultative Committees and the Chairman and Secretary normally attend the Annual Liaison meeting of UKACCS which is hosted at one of the member airports. Matters of common concern to airport consultative committees are discussed at these meetings. A report of the discussions is circulated afterwards.

Airport Consultative Committee

Most members are nominated by their sponsoring organisation, although there are a number of individual members appointed because of their relevant expertise. Broadly speaking there are three types of membership:

• Users of the airport. Mainly passengers but also including airlines and associated services. This group also includes consumer and relevant business organisations and disabled groups.
• Local Authorities (LAs) in the surrounding area. Whenever possible it is preferred that the member represents or lives in the area closest to the airport. They should represent the full range of relevant issues, including planning, economic and environmental issues. They should endeavour to enable the LA to better consider how the airport features in their plans and policies, through the knowledge they have gained through the Committee.
• Representatives of the local communities and organisations around the actual airport site, which can be directly affected by the airport’s operations. They include residents’ organisations and Community Councils.

Where a member cannot attend a meeting they should inform the Secretary beforehand and to send a notified deputy of suitable standing. A register of attendance is kept and any member absent for two consecutive meetings without explanation will be asked to give one. In cases of persistent non-attendance (three or more meetings) the member may be asked to resign. The Consultative Committee has 21 members (including the Chairman) appointed by the following organisations. Each organisation appoints representation as stated below.

The Committee meets quarterly, usually on the first Friday of March, June, September and December at 2.00 p.m. Meetings are normally held at the airport.

Papers should be circulated to members 10 days beforehand by the Secretary.

Members are expected to respect confidentiality whenever this is indicated by GPA or the Chair.

Members are expected to report back to their sponsoring organisations regularly and can do this by a short oral or written report of their own.

Matters to be discussed at meetings will include, but are not confined to, updates from GPA on passenger numbers, freight, other income sources, punctuality, new services, compliments and complaints, noise and track-keeping, passenger services including security times, baggage handling, any relevant planning matters, airspace changes, current consultations and community initiatives.

Any significant minority opinion should be reflected in the recording of the meeting discussions and decisions as well as all matters of agreement.

Diary of Meetings

Dates may be subject to change.

2025

Confirmed dates for the quarterly meetings of the Consultative Committee in 2025 are:

• Friday 7th March 2025
• Friday 6th June 2025
• Friday 5th September 2025
• Friday 5th December 2025

Meetings will normally be held at 14:00 in the Board Room at Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

Any queries should be addressed to:

TBA
Secretary
Glasgow Prestwick Airport Consultative Committee

Previous Agendas and Approved Minutes

2025

2024

2023

To contact the Committee e-mail the
Secretary: TBA

E-Mail: TBA

Please note, this email is not for General Airport enquiries. Any General Airport enquiries should be directed to the Contact Us section.