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The subject of Alderney Airport, its runway, and the potential cost of redevelopment, is often one loaded with controversy and opinionated rhetoric - with a recent Freedom of Information request adding more context to conversations on the topic.
The FOI request was lodged on 6 September this year, and it took just under a month for the States of Guernsey to collate the data and release the answers, as they responded on 3 October.
The FOI request had sought to find out the dates on which maintenance and checks were performed on the Control Tower, or at the Airport itself.
The person asking the questions wanted to know if any routine inspections were held, and what schedule of work was carried out.
All in all six questions were lodged.
Pictured: Costs, corrosion and completed maintenance were all under question for Alderney Airport under the FOI requests.
This question also requested the dates that inspections took place on, and what actions were taken as a direct result.
The spreadsheet provided gives a lot of detail, but what stood out was the fact it was only dated back to November 2017.
Besides the shortening of the years, the answer goes into a lot of depth - for example showing a four year gap between work carried out in November 2017 and the next entry in January 2021. That was when part of a 'Site Survey for new Tower Steps' designs were submitted.
There were also a slew of Asbestos Inspections in April this year.
Surveys of the Fire Station, Hangar, and Ayline House all resulted in recommendations to 'Manage in place and reinspect'. All actions for these were 'completed'.
The answer for Request B was much more straight forward with a simple paragraph rather than a large chart or spreadsheet.
“B) There is no formalised schedule or policy outlining the frequency of structural building surveys and safety inspections at Alderney Airport. These would be commissioned routinely and as maintenance, improvements or other similar circumstances dictate.”
Why there aren't any routine inspections at Alderney Airport is not explained.
Question and Answer C sought to establish if there was regular maintenance, or if any had been missed.
A succinct reply ended with: “There are no deviations to report as a standard routine of scheduled inspections on buildings is not established.”
Pictured: Alderney Airports Control Towers been under a spotlight after corrosion was found in August.
As reported earlier this year by Express, corrosion at Alderney's Airports Control Tower was discovered and safety measures put in place to protect staff and passengers.
This coupled with other potential work being made a priority while decisions over funding the wider work needed hang in the balance prompted questions.
The reasons why some works were seen as a priority are explicitly laid out in the States of Guernsey’s answer.
A report finished on 17 September found that the tower didn’t pose any immediate risk despite the corrosion and parts falling off: “The Primary Frame, Flooring and Stair Tower were found not to require any attention in the immediate and short term.” and “the survey found that a replacement facility is considered likely within 24 months”.
This also works with Question E, which sought to find out: “Any reports or documents that address the safety of airport staff and passengers in light of the current condition of the control tower.”
In response officials say temporary works are taking place this autumn, which were found to be needed during the same survey and report referenced in Request and Response D.
Then we get on to the cold hard cash. How much has everything cost?
The numbers are as follows:
The corroded Control Tower has cost just shy of £310,000.
The Fire Station cost £543,666.
The Terminal came in at a total just under £19k.
Ground maintenance costs reached £37k.
The Hangar was also listed, but it had no costs attached.
However, the main cost here was the Runway, which over the previous decade has had £2,156,722 spent on it.
That has been broken down into the 2016 renovations which cost £174k, maintenance costs of £800k, and rehabilitation work at £1,170,139.
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