The controversial decision to introduce a £1 short stay parking fee at the airport has been put back until July 14.
TravelWatch met Department of Infrastructure (DoI) and airport officials on Thursday to discuss the proposed £1 charge.
The meeting, held at the airport, was attended by Infrastructure Minister,David Cretney MHK, DoI chief executive Ian Thompson and airport director Ann Reynolds, along with TravelWatch committee members Brendan O’Friel, Paul Moncaster and Bernard Arrowsmith.
Mr Cretney issued a statement saying: ‘I will be considering all the comments and I will set out my decision by July 14. Therefore the proposed change will not take place on July 1.
‘The airport staff are currently in negotiations with the management regarding staff cost savings of £1.85 million over a three year period, (2013-14 to 2015-16), which will have to be achieved with changes to terms and conditions, working practices and fewer posts.’
Mr O’Friel said: ‘We set out our concerns. 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 are to consider the points we have made.’
