There are plans to open the promised aviation college in 2020. The 4-star hotel development will commence at the end of this year for between 52 and 72 beds. This should lead to an increase of 2,300 jobs by 2030.
A new noise monitoring and tracking system has been installed. Anyone can go online and track aircraft flying over this area. When the correct procedure is contravened, the cases go before a safety noise review board and four pilots have been banned. Runway 03 departures are still coming too far towards GSG but GPS will be used to make them turn away. It is hoped that the CAA will agree to the new tracks so they can be implemented this year. Complaints have reduced over the last 12 months and stacking for Heathrow will also cease soon.
£300,000 has been invested in an advanced radar system which will take aircraft to 4,000ft, whereas they currently only go to 2,500ft. 125,000 movements per year have reduced to 50,000. About 30,000 related to aircraft going round in circles.
Colin also talked about being a Trustee of Biggin Hill Memorial Museum. The National Lottery and English Heritage would not allow the new building to join onto the chapel. The 1990 extension – kitchen, storeroom – was taken down but the window is going back into the new building. No trees planted in memory of pilots have been removed and the Remembrance Garden has not been touched. The Trustees are committed to restoring and retaining the chapel in memory of the pilots who died in WWII.
In September 1999, London Go-Ahead purchased Metrobus. The Orpington buses run 120,000 miles per week over 19 routes. Go-Ahead has a 5 year contract with TfL and has to bid for the work when the contract expires. Recently the Orpington garage lost 3 routes and about 40 buses.
Phil Waller, founder of Orpington History Organisation, has been giving talks at fairs and exhibitions for the last 12 years. He covers old Orpington District boundary.
In 1860 the railway came and the London to Chatham and Dover railway reached St Mary Cray. In 1868, the South Eastern Railway opened in Orpington and developed the railway from London to Chislehurst. The soil from tunnels at Knockholt was used to create embankments at Orpington and Chelsfield. The bridge over Sevenoaks Road is called the Triumph arch. It was the first and largest bridge built completely of bricks.
Orpington owes its success to the railway. The area was one of the biggest producers of soft fruits in Kent and was the primary focus for commerce from the 1920s. Houses in Gladstone Road, Farnborough were built for the railway but it never went to Farnborough! When Petts Wood was being developed, the station was opened in 1928. Orpington station now has 5.1 million passengers a year.
Margot Rohan - Orpington Community