An Inconvenient Truth

The Department for Transport “sneaks out” its first major national study on aircraft noise for a quarter of a century.

The Department for Transport has been accused of sneaking out the first major national study it has produced on aircraft noise for nearly a quarter of a century. Today at 9.30am the Department will simply publish the ANASE study (The Attitudes to Noise from Aviation Sources in England) on its website (1). And, in a highly unusual move, the Department will also publish the comments of the people who were asked to peer review the study. It is thought the DfT will neither agree or disagree with the findings of the study but will highlight that the peer reviewers’ comments — some of which are critical of the study — to justify further work before the findings can be used in policy-making.

But critics have accused the Department of running away from the findings of its own study because it has found that aircraft noise causes much more annoyance than the Government or the aviation industry has previously admitted. The Government has consistently maintained that aircraft noise only starts to annoy people when it averages out at 57 decibels. But the new study suggests that significant annoyance starts at around 50 decibels. That is consistent with the findings of the World Health Organisation.

This means that many more people than previously admitted are affected by aircraft noise. At Heathrow there are 258,000 residents inside the 57-decibel area, but over 2 million live inside the 50-decibel area (2).

Local campaign groups argue they have been telling the Government this for years. John Stewart, Chair of HACAN, said, “Local people have been vindicated. For over 10 years now local people in areas more than 15 miles from the airport have been complaining about aircraft noise problems. This study shows they have not been imagining it.”

Although the study is a national one, it will cause particular problems for the Government over its plans to expand Heathrow which are expected to be put out to public consultation next month. The Government has pledged that the expansion plans will not go ahead if the number of people living in the 57-decibel areas were to increase. Their new study suggests that a better cut off point would be the 50-decibel area.

The study found that the existing method of measuring aircraft noise, adopted a quarter of a century ago, is too narrow and outdated. It fails to take account of the huge growth in the number of flights. While individual aircraft have become quieter, the number of flights at Heathrow has grown from 273,000 in 1982 to 477,000 last year.

John Stewart added: “For the Government this new study is an inconvenient truth. It gets in the way of their expansion plans. But, instead of running away from it, it needs to face up to the stark reality that millions of people’s lives are being blighted by aircraft noise.”

ENDS

Notes for Editors:

(1). The ANASE Study was commissioned in 2001. The previous study had been published in 1985.

(2). Places in the 50 decibel-area would include large chunks of Berkshire and most of London stretching into South East London and into areas of North London such as Finsbury Park and Stoke Newington.

For more information contact John Stewart on 0207 737 6641 or 07957385650