TravelWatch committee members Brendan O'Friel, Paul Moncaster and Bernard Arrowsmith met with Department of Infrastructure (DoI) Minister David Cretney, DoI Chief Executive Ian Thompson and Airport Director Ann Reynolds on Thursday 27th for about 2 hours at the airport.
 
This was a scheduled meeting we had arranged with the Airport Director the previous week.

TravelWatch were pleased that the Minister had been able to join the meeting.

We set out our concerns about the proposed airport parking charge changes. These included that

• we thought the procedure for notifying the public was inadequate;
• we regretted the imposition of a charge for the first hour;
• and we stressed the need to provide a designated "short stay" parking area for those meeting passengers which was close to the airport buildings.

The DoI explained exactly what changes they were proposing and set out the financial pressures under which they had to operate.
 
TravelWatch Chairman Brendan O'Friel commented: "The DoI are to consider the points TravelWatch has made and will be studying the many written objections that members of the public have submitted. TravelWatch understand the need for DoI to have time to consider the issues."