It is half as far from Heathrow as Edinburgh is from Glasgow. So why is aircraft noise a problem in Brockley? It is in South East London in the borough of Lewisham, over 20 miles from the airport. And yet alight at Brockley Station and the dominant noise you will hear is from planes passing overhead.
It is part of Heathrow’s forgotten catchment area which stretches at least 25 miles from the airport. It takes in Brockley, Leytonstone and Walthamstow to the east and places like Bracknell and Reading to the west.
Perhaps because it is forgotten, it is the area from which HACAN gets most emails. I think there are two simple reasons for this: one, people who move into these places don’t expect to be neighbours of Heathrow; and, two, the area gets a constant stream of aircraft. Large parts of West London enjoy a half day’s break from the noise when planes switch runways at 3pm. This wider catchment area gets no such predicable respite. It is interesting that a careful look at Heathrow’s complaint statistics for all areas reveal a clear correlation between complaints and lack of respite.
HACAN remains opposed to a third runway particularly because of the impact a quarter of a million extra flights would have on areas closer to Heathrow. But get off the train at Brockley and or the underground at Leytonstone and the talk will not be of a third runway; but it may well be about aircraft noise or flight paths.
Respite (or controlled dispersal which some communities would prefer) could be introduced at a two-runway Heathrow. The technology exists to allow precision flying which would enable it to happen. But Heathrow is reluctant to make major changes to its flight paths until there is certainty about a new runway.
If a third runway does get the go-ahead, HACAN is urging Heathrow to remember its forgotten catchment area and commit to introducing multiple flight paths, rotated on a regular basis, so that, for at least part of the time when you alight from the train at Brockley or the underground at Leytonstone, you don’t hear a plane in the sky, whatever direction the wind is blowing.
We are suggesting that respite is guaranteed within a 25 mile radius of Heathrow. Beyond that, where the planes are higher, communities tell us they prefer an element of dispersal.
It would end two decades of constant noise for hundreds of thousands of people. Heathrow doesn’t need me, a veteran opponent of a third runway, to tell them that this might be one of its key selling points.
Most of us remember Blind Date with some affection. Cilla Black’s match-making show attracted big audiences on a Saturday night. Would the couple hit it off on their holiday together? Would some of them even settle down with one another?
Heathrow and London City Airport need to go on a date. There are some signs they are getting together. I understand they are to meet. What is needed, though, is a full-blown relationship in order to coordinate the key activities which impact on people living under the flight paths of both airports.
And, now more than ever, is the time to do it. There will significant changes to flight paths over the next few years. Some have already been made by London City when the airport concentrated its flight paths last year. There are signs, though, it may be prepared to look again at these unpopular flight paths. Heathrow will start consulting on new flight paths later this year..
Many of my friends in West London don’t fully realize the numbers impacted by both airports. Vast swathes of East London from Tower Hamlets, through Newham, Waltham Forest and Redbridge and beyond are overflown by both Heathrow and London City aircraft. A lot of South East London is similarly affected.
There are two keys ways in which the airports should work together.
One is in producing cumulative noise contours for the affected areas. At present each airport draws up its own separate noise contours. That cannot give a comprehensive or realistic picture of the total noise heard by residents.
The second is in coordinating their work on flight paths with the aim of ensuring that the communities overflown by both airports get meaningful breaks from the noise.
The technology now exists for aircraft to be guided more precisely. It can be used to create multiple flight paths which, if used on a rotating basis, can give the periods of respite that would improve the quality of life for the people under flight paths.
HACAN remains opposed to a third runway at Heathrow because we fear the impact of quarter of a million extra planes a year on local communities but a firm condition of a new runway, if it is given the go-ahead, should be the requirement that Heathrow works with London City on matters of common concern.
This is not a forced marriage. Both airports would retain their independence and identity. But, with the help of other bodies like NATS and the CAA, liaison on noise contours and flight paths is quite possible. The links the two airports arte beginning to make should be encouraged to develop into the sort of solid working relationship that ‘Our Cilla’ would have surely approved of.
http://hacan.org.uk/blog/?page_id=516
15/3/17
by John Stewart
Most of us remember Blind Date with some affection. Cilla Black’s match-making show attracted big audiences on a Saturday night. Would the couple hit it off on their holiday together? Would some of them even settle down with one another?
Heathrow and London City Airport need to go on a date. There are some signs they are getting together. I understand they are to meet. What is needed, though, is a full-blown relationship in order to coordinate the key activities which impact on people living under the flight paths of both airports.
And, now more than ever, is the time to do it. There will significant changes to flight paths over the next few years. Some have already been made by London City when the airport concentrated its flight paths last year. There are signs, though, it may be prepared to look again at these unpopular flight paths. Heathrow will start consulting on new flight paths later this year..
Many of my friends in West London don’t fully realize the numbers impacted by both airports. Vast swathes of East London from Tower Hamlets, through Newham, Waltham Forest and Redbridge and beyond are overflown by both Heathrow and London City aircraft. A lot of South East London is similarly affected.
There are two keys ways in which the airports should work together.
One is in producing cumulative noise contours for the affected areas. At present each airport draws up its own separate noise contours. That cannot give a comprehensive or realistic picture of the total noise heard by residents.
The second is in coordinating their work on flight paths with the aim of ensuring that the communities overflown by both airports get meaningful breaks from the noise.
The technology now exists for aircraft to be guided more precisely. It can be used to create multiple flight paths which, if used on a rotating basis, can give the periods of respite that would improve the quality of life for the people under flight paths.
HACAN remains opposed to a third runway at Heathrow because we fear the impact of quarter of a million extra planes a year on local communities but we would suggest that a firm condition of a new runway, if it is given the go-ahead, should be the requirement on Heathrow to work with London City on matters of common concern.
This is not a forced marriage. Both airports would retain their independence and identity. But, with the help of other bodies like NATS and the CAA, liaison on noise contours and flight paths is quite possible. The links the two airports are beginning to make should be encouraged to develop into the sort of solid working relationship that ‘Our Cilla’ would have surely approved of.
It is just possible that residents under the Heathrow flight paths could enjoy a whole new night-time experience: sleep!
Currently that sleep can be badly interrupted by planes. There’s the unscheduled late take-offs after 11.30pm – in fact the last plane is timetabled to leave Heathrow before 11pm. There are the 16 arrivals between 4.30 and 6am. And there are the 60 plus planes between 7 and 8am, one of the busiest hours at the airport.
It has been much the same for over a quarter of a century. The airlines value the night flights but they drive many residents to distraction. Government has realized how toxic an issue it is and so has kept the regime largely unchanged for the last 25 years.
But now an opportunity to change things could arise. The third runway could be the catalyst. HACAN continues to oppose a third runway primarily because we are concerned about the impact of a quarter of a million more planes using Heathrow each year. But, if a third runway is to go ahead, the opportunity must not be lost to prize open the stalemate on night flights than has lasted for over quarter of a century.
The Airports Commission argued in its final report that a third runway would provide the capacity for the 16 flights which come in before 6am flights to land just after six, thus remaining attractive to the majority of passengers who use them. The airlines will resist but, in return for getting a whole new runway, is it really too much to ask that they don’t start operating until 6am? Sir Howard Davies certainly felt it was not.
It will be more difficult to relocate the 60 plus planes which currently use the airport between 6 and 7am but this is the time to make a creative assessment to see what can be done about them. How essential it is that all these planes arrive and depart during this hour? Does the extra capacity provided by the third runway allow at least some of them to be shunted post 7am? If it would do, it would open the way to ensure people only get flights before 7am one week in three (wind permitting) as only one runway would be used for landings and one for departures during those hours.
Heathrow is also getting serious about late night departures. They have been coming down in recent years and Heathrow’s recent sustainability plan, Heathrow 2, includes specific targets to reduce them further (genuine emergencies and late running due to really bad weather would be excluded).
So, what could an overall package look like to allow residents to sleep at night?
For two weeks out of three, no flights from 11pm until 7am
On the third week, no flights from 11pm until 6am
Compare the current situation: often departures after 11pm and sometimes into the early hours; 16 planes between 4.30am and 6am (at least every other week) and over 60 planes between 6am and 7am.
If a third runway does go ahead, this change is worth fighting for.
The influential Environmental Audit Committee in a report (1) issued today has said that the Government is still not doing enough to mitigate the environmental impacts of the planned new runway at Heathrow.
Mary Creagh MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, said: “If the Government wants to get Heathrow expansion off the ground it needs to show that a third runway can be built and run without exceeding legal limits on air pollution or breaching our carbon budgets.” The report also found that the measures to tackle noise lacked ambition.
John Stewart, the chair of HACAN, the campaign group which opposes Heathrow expansion, said, “The Committee is saying in no uncertain terms that both the Government and Heathrow Airport have got to up their game big-time if they are to have any chance of getting a third runway. They have got to prove they can deliver on noise, climate and air pollution, not just say they can.”
The report comes out just weeks after the Government launched a public consultation on a third runway at Heathrow. The consultation ends on 25th May. Later this year or early next year MPs are expected to be asked to vote on the runway. Only if they vote in favour will a third runway become Government policy and Heathrow will be able to draw up detailed plans for it.
The lack of information about where the new flights will be is emerging as a key criticism of the Department for Transport’s current consultation into the third runway at Heathrow. Commonsense would suggest that flight paths should be an integral part of any consultation on any new runway. After all, most people are pretty agnostic about a new runway. They only get interested if they hear that the runway will mean flights over their homes. Yet read the Department’s consultation document or go to one of its public exhibitions and information about flight paths is missing.
I’m not sure this is a deliberate plot to minimize the opposition to a third runway by withholding flight path information from people. It is more the result of very bad timing. The third runway consultation is being run in parallel to a national consultation on air space policy. The latter is being driven by a worldwide plan to modernize and make more efficient use of airspace. This would save the airlines money, time and fuel as well as cutting their climate change emissions. Also, it would allow airports to operate more flexibly and effectively. The consultation is asking for views on the principles which should inform airspace policy – for example, should flight paths be concentrated or dispersed; how much importance do people attach to respite; what would meaningful respite would look like.
And therein lies the problem for the Heathrow consultation. Until these key principles have been decided neither the Department for Transport (DfT) nor Heathrow can know for sure where the new flight paths for a third runway will be. Indeed, they cannot predict what will happen to flight paths even if Heathrow remains a two-runway airport.
So why, you might reasonably ask, did the DfT not consult on airspace policy well before the consultation on the third runway? The civil servants were keen to do so. Ministers, maybe understandably but unfortunately, have spent the last two years so focused on the toxic question of where a new runway should go that they allowed a backlog of other matters to build up.
Heathrow Airport itself is planning to start consulting in the autumn on the principles behind any flight path changes and to involve local communities in the process. And in 2018 flight paths will form part of its detailed plans for a third runway if Parliament approves the new runway.
Through no fault of Heathrow this will be the first time that many, many people will be aware that a third runway flight path could affect them. I suspect there will be real anger. The fact is Ministers, by refusing to sort out flight path policy well in advance of the consultation, have caused an unholy mess.
The DfT appointed the former judge, Sir Jeremy Sullivan, to ensure the third runway consultation was fair and reasonable. I trust he will have a few choice words for ministers on the absence of flight paths when he submits his report on the process in early summer.
No change proposed for night flight regime at Heathrow
The Government is proposing no change to the number of night flights at Heathrow. The consultation document, released on 12/1/17 by the Department for Transport, argues that the current regime should continue for the next five years. It will then be clearer whether a third runway will be underway. Permission to build a third runway is expected to be conditional on a tougher night flight regime being introduced when it opens.
At present an average of 16 flights each night are allowed to land at Heathrow between 11.30pm and 6am. There are no scheduled departures during this period. The first flight lands at 4.30am.
The deadline for responding to the consultation is 28th February.
This is a hugely important national document which was launched on 2nd February, the same day as the National Policy Statement. The two consultations run in parallel. It covers key topics like airspace changes; respite; new metrics for measuring noise annoyance; and the setting up of an Independent Noise Authority.
On 2nd February 2017 the Department launched its consultation on a third runway at Heathrow. It comes in the form of a National Policy Statement. It will be a 16 week consultation. In the paper the Government stresses its belief that a third runway is required to improve connectivity to countries across the world but it has outlined a series of challenging measures that Heathrow will need to take if it is to get the go-ahead.
At the end of the year or early next year Parliament will vote on the National Policy Statement. Only if Parliament approves it will a 3rd runway officially become Government policy.
After that Heathrow will need to submit detailed plans to a Planning Inquiry. It does not expect to get approval until at least 2020.
Campaign group HACAN has urged ministers to be bold enough to reject a third runway if the National Policy Statement consultation, issued today, reveals real problems with the proposal. As expected, transport secretary Chris Grayling when launching the consultation highlighted the importance of a new runway to the post-Brexit economy but HACAN, which gives a voice to residents under the flight paths, argues that the downsides of a new runway are also considerable.
HACAN chair John Stewart said, “There is no way that a quarter of a million extra planes a year cannot but have a severe impact on many people’s lives. A third runway will also mean the demolition of many homes and could add to London’s air pollution problems. The Government must be even-handed in assessing the consultation and reject a third runway if, as we believe, its downsides are simply too high.”
Stewart added: “Heathrow still has considerable hurdles to overcome before a third runway can see the light of day. The Government has for the first time made permission for a new runway conditional on it serving unfashionable UK destinations for which there is a limited market and on Heathrow ensuring there will be no increase in airport related road traffic if the runway is built. These are very big asks indeed.”
The consultation will last for 16 weeks. After that the proposals will be considered by the Parliamentary Transport Select Committee. Parliament will vote on the National Policy Statement late 2017/early 2018. Only if it is approved will a third runway become Government policy.
If it is approved, next year Heathrow will need to draw up detailed plans for the new runway which are expected to go to a planning inquiry in 2019. Heathrow does not expect to get final approval for the third runway until 2020 or 2021.
The Government also launched a national consultation today on its future airspace strategy. It will asking for views on the principles which it should use in making airspace changes – for example, if people prefer concentrated flight paths or a more dispersed approach. But it will not deal with detailed flight paths. It will be at least another 18 months before it becomes clearer where Heathrow’s new flight paths will be if a third runway is given the go-ahead.
