The Government published its first major study for over 20 years into how people react to aircraft noise in early November. It was accused of “sneaking it out”. Certainly it tried to ensure it got as little publicity as possible by simply putting it up on the Department for Transport website on the Friday of a week when Parliament was in recess
The Government has refused to accept the findings of its own study saying that they were inconclusive. But most of the press believed it was it was being disingenuous. The whole thrust of the report is that “the onset of community annoyance” — the level at which a fair number of people start to get annoyed – kicks in well below the 57 decibel level* the Government had previously accepted. The ANASE Study shows that a sizeable number of people start to get annoyed at 50 decibels.
50 decibels ties in much more with what residents under flight paths report. In London a 57 decibel cut off point would exclude areas such as Fulham and Battersea where noise is clearly a problem. A 50 decibel cut off point would cover most areas where people complain of aircraft noise. About 10 times as many people – over 2 million — are affected by a 50 decibel cut-off pint than the Government’s favoured 57 decibels. It also ties in with the World Health Organisation noise guidelines.
The reason the Government is thought to be so reluctant to accept the findings of its own study is that, if it did so, it would need to fundamentally alter one of the key conditions it has put on further expansion at Heathrow. It said in the 2003 Aviation White Paper that it would not permit expansion at Heathrow to go ahead if the area within the 57 decibel cut-off point were to exceed the size it was in 2002. Since the ANASE Report has now found that the 57 decibel cut-off point badly underestimates the numbers affected by noise, the Government has been put on the spot.
- The decibel levels the report talks about are not those of the individual planes are they pass overhead. They are the levels averaged out over a year.