HACAN accuses Heathrow of abusing Airport Commission’s consultation process

Campaign group HACAN has accused Heathrow Airport of abusing the Airport Commission’s current consultation, which closes on February 3rd, by “flooding the Commission with thousands of pro-forma responses.” 

In a letter to Sir Howard Davies (see letter and full HACAN response below), the chair of the Commission, HACAN, has said that Heathrow has “strained every sinew of its advertising budget to try to persuade as many people as possible to email or write to the Commission that they want a third runway at Heathrow”.

In its consultation the Commission asked for comments on whether it had correctly assessed the proposals put forward for a new runway at Heathrow and a second runway at Gatwick.

HACAN chair John Stewart, said “This was a technical consultation.  What the Commission was not looking for was a flood of responses for or against a third runway.  Yet Heathrow even went as far as placing post boxes in its terminals for passengers to pop in their letters of support.   It is simply a side-show to the serious work the Commission is undertaking”.

Letter to Sir Howard: HACAN consultation letter to Sir Howard Davies

HACAN response to the Consultation: Response to the Airports Commission from HACAN January 2015 _2_

 

 

 

Heathrow insulation scheme: “more generous than we have seen before but a sign of how eager the airport is to get a third runway”.

Heathrow insulation scheme: “more generous than we have seen before but a sign of how eager the airport is to get a third runway”.

 Campaign group HACAN has welcomed today’s proposals by Heathrow Airport to provide residents with more noise insulation as “more generous than we have seen before but a sign of how eager the airport is to get a third runway.”

Heathrow Airport announced that, if a new runway goes ahead, it will extend its noise insulation scheme to cover everybody living within the area where noise is officially a problem (1).  It means that people living over 15 miles from the airport, in places such as Clapham, will get financial help to install noise installation; around 160,000 households in total.  The airport has set aside £700 million pounds for the purpose.

HACAN chair John Stewart said, “There is no doubt that this is much more generous than anything we have seen before and it brings Heathrow into line with other major European airports.  But it does show how eager the airport is to get a new runway.  It also suggests that residents have been short-changed in the past”.

Heathrow is dividing the area where people are eligible for insulation into the inner and outer zones.  Those living in the inner zone will get 100% of their costs covered.  Those in the outer zone will get a grant of up to £3,000.

The announcement by Heathrow comes a day before the end of the consultation by the Airports Commission into whether a new runway should be built at Heathrow or Gatwick.

ENDS

 Notes for editors:

 (1).  Technically, this is defined at the 55Lden contour, i.e. the area where noise averages out at 55 decibels or more over a 24 hour period.  It is the measurement used by the European Union.

For more information:

John Stewart on 0207 737 6641 or 07957385650

 

 

Letter from politicians and MPs calling on PM to keep his promise not to build a 3rd runway

The Prime Minister

10 Downing Street

London SW1

3rd February 2015

Dear Prime Minister,

We call on you to remember the promise that you made before the last General Election: “No ifs; no buts; there will be no Third Runway” and to reject any plans that might come forward for a third runway at Heathrow.

Yours sincerely,

Adam Afryie MP

Angie Bray MP

Zac Goldsmith MP

Kate Hoey MP

Caroline Lucas MP

Mary Macleod MP

John McDonnell MP

John Randall MP

Andy Slaughter MP

Baroness Jenny Tonge

John Stewart, Chair HACAN

Neil Keveren, Chair Stop Heathrow Expansion

Natasha Fletcher, Teddington Action Group

Elise Parkin; Brockley Aircraft Noise;

Peter Willan, Chair Richmond Heathrow Campaign

Campaigners and politicians to deliver letter to PM to ask him to keep his promise not to build a third runway

Press Release

30/1/15 for immediate use

 Campaigners link up with cross-party group of politicians to remind David Cameron to stick to his promise on 3rd runway

 Downing Street event on February 3rd

 At 2pm on February 3rd (1), to mark the end of the current consultation by the Airports Commission, a cross-party group of MPs, accompanied by campaigners from across London (2), will hand in a letter (3) to Number 10 urging the Prime Minister to stick to his promise made before the 2010 General Election, “No ifs; no buts; there will be no third runway.”  Between 1.30pm and 2pm a larger group of anti-third runway campaigners will gather in Whitehall outside the gates of Downing Street.  They will include people from the Heathrow villages whose homes will be demolished if a new runway is built as well as members of the Green Party and UKIP.

John Stewart, chair of the campaign group HACAN, said, “We are deliberately targeting Downing Street because the decision about a new runway will be a political one.  The politicians can override whatever recommendations the Airports Commission will come up with in the summer.”

Stewart added, “This event once again demonstrates the cross-party nature of the opposition to a third runway.  It also shows the geographical spread of the current problems caused by Heathrow which can only get worse if a new runway is built.  Representatives of groups from as far apart as Brockley and Teddington will be going into Downing Street.”

ENDS

 Notes for Editors:

 (1). The delegation will be outside Number 10 at 2pm.  A group of campaigners and supporters will be outside the gates in Whitehall from about 1.30pm but, note, this is not a mass demonstration.  However, the event will provide good photo-opportunities.

(2). Politicians going into Downing Street will include Adam Afyie, Angie Bray, Zac Goldsmith, Caroline Lucas, Mary Macleod , John McDonnell, and John Randall.  The campaign groups will be represented by John Stewart, HACAN; Neil Keveren, Stop Heathrow Expansion (representing the Heathrow villages); Natasha Fletcher, Teddington Action Group; Elise Parkin; Brockley Aircraft Noise; and Peter Willan, Richmond Heathrow Campaign

(3). This is the text of the letter:

Dear Prime Minister,

We call on you to remember the promise that you made before the last General Election: “No ifs; no buts; there will be no Third Runway” and to reject any plans that might come forward for a third runway at Heathrow.

Yours sincerely,

Adam Afryie MP

Angie Bray MP

Zac Goldsmith MP

Kate Hoey

Caroline Lucas MP

Mary Macleod MP

John McDonnell MP

John Randall

Andy Slaughter MP

Baroness Jenny Tonge

John Stewart, Chair HACAN

Neil Keveren, Chair Stop Heathrow Expansion

Natasha Fletcher, Teddington Action Group

Elise Parkin; Brockley Aircraft Noise;

Peter Willan, Chair Richmond Heathrow Campaign

For further information:  John Stewart on 0207 737 6641 or 07957385650

Noise attitude survey

People are becoming more disturbed by noise because the noise climate has become worse; not because they are less tolerant of noise

Blog by John Stewart

The official National Noise Attitude Survey (1), recently published by the Government, showed that more people were disturbed by noise than ten years ago. Those disturbed by neighbour noise was up from 9% to 11%; aircraft noise up from 1 million to 2 million people; only road noise – at 8% of the population – remained constant.  

A number of people have jumped to the conclusion that this is because we are becoming less tolerant of noise.  I’m not sure there is evidence to back that up.  

The evidence we have points the other way:  as a nation we are becoming more tolerant of noise; the fact the more people say they more disturbed is simply a reflection of how noisy the country has become.

When I was researching my book Why Noise Matters (Earthscan 2011) all the evidence I found suggested that we are able to live with levels of noise we simply would have not tolerated a generation or two ago.

Of course noise has always been with us. We only have to read accounts of the noise in ancient Rome or on the streets of medieval Europe to understand the problems it presented.  But the type of noise was different to that so common in the modern world.  It was described as ‘the organic sounds created by humans and animals at work and at play.’(The Soundscape of Modernity, Thompson 2004)

Today we are faced with ‘machine age’ noises: cars, planes, trains, stereo systems, musak, iPods etc.  I found evidence that in countries where the consumer society has become embedded ‘a growing number of people not only accept noise but see it as something positive because it is associated with the consumer goods they value.’

But many have not just embraced the constant noise of consumerism, but also learnt to love the loudness of the noise.  The noise in modern clubs, cinemas, restaurants and even our home stereo systems is of a level unimaginable 40 years ago.  Barry Blesser and Linda-Ruth Salter argue that ‘when a culture accepts loudness as being a legitimate right in recreational sound venues, that acceptance tends to legitimize all forms of noise pollution.’ 

They go on:  ‘As a culture with advancing sonic tools and amplification, there are increasing opportunities to be immersed in destructively loud sound fields.  We believe that acceptance of loudness in entertainment then carries over to a tolerance of disruptive noise from airplanes, jackhammers, powered garden equipment, and so on.  Loudness becomes the cultural norm.’  (The unexamined rewards for excessive loudness, Blesser and Salter, 2008)

I would suggest that this is borne out by people’s acceptance of loud noise in daily life: music in shops and restaurants; announcements on the Underground and at railway stations; iPods stuck to our ears.

Of course there are people for whom this cacophony of noise is well-nigh unbearable, but for much of the nation it is accepted – and perhaps even enjoyed – as part of life.  And yet more people say they are disturbed by road, aircraft and neighbour noise than ever before.  It can only mean that the noise from these sources is becoming worse.

(1). The Government aims to publish the National Noise Attitude Survey every ten years.  Previous surveys were published in 1991 and 2001.  This survey is dated December 2014 but has recently been released by DEFRA.  The research for it was carried out in 2012:  file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/John%20Stewart/My%20Documents/Downloads/12378_SummaryReportV1.0%20(1).pdf

Happiness

The Airports Commission has a view on happiness.  It got lost in the immediate analysis of its report. But it is important……because a key justification it gives of  a third runway at Heathrow is that flying abroad on holiday or to visit family and friends makes you happy.

On page 70 of its final report it says: 

“Leisure flights have a high social value. Empirical analysis focused on passengers travelling on holiday or to visit friends and family has shown how the access to leisure travel affects mental health and wellbeing. The findings demonstrate these patterns of travel are associated with higher levels of life satisfactions, general and mental health, and happiness.”

The Commission had asked PwC to look at the academic literature on happiness.  They found that it did show that taking a holiday did make people happy.  There second claim – that air travel is associated with a higher level of happiness – was less well-founded because the statistical work that PwC did for the Commission didn’t split up the respondents into those that travelled on holiday by car, train or bus and those that flew.

However, it would be churlish to deny that cheap flights providing holidays in the sun don’t bring happiness to people.  Only last week I was having a snack at a cafe in Canning Town in East London.  When I asked the young waiter if he was going on holiday this year, his eyes lit up as he explained to me that for the first time in the years he and his girlfriend had saved enough money to fly off for a holiday to Portugal. 

The really interesting question is why the Airports Commission is, at least in part, justifying the expansion of Britain’s premier international airport on the grounds of increasing the happiness of a young lad from Canning Town.

Can it be that it found:

The proportion of business trips is falling  

Number of people disturbed by aircraft noise doubles in the last decade, according to Government survey

Number of people disturbed by aircraft noise doubles in the last decade, according to Government survey

The number of people ‘significantly affected’ by aircraft noise has doubled in the last decade, according to the Government’s recently published National Noise Attitude Survey (1).   Four per cent of the population – over 2 million people – now consider themselves badly affected by noise from aircraft.  Another 9% say they are ‘moderately’ affected.  DEFRA, the Government department responsible for noise, has called the increase ‘strongly statistically significant’.

John Stewart, chair of HACAN, the group which campaigns for noise reduction around Heathrow, said, “The results are revealing.  This dramatic increase in the numbers disturbed by aircraft took place during a decade when planes were becoming a little quieter.  It can only be accounted for by the rise in the number of aircraft using UK airports.”

Stewart added, “It should act as a warning to those who argue that the noise climate around Heathrow will improve even if a third runway is built because of the introduction of quieter planes and improved operational practices.”

Neighbour noise remains the biggest problem with 26% of people saying they are moderately or significantly affected by it.  Road noise impacts 25% of the population.

ENDS

 Notes for Editors: The Government aims to publish the National Noise Attitude Survey every ten years.  Previous surveys were published in 1991 and 2001.  This survey is dated December 2014 but has recently been released by DEFRA.  The research for it was carried out in 2012:  http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&ProjectID=18288&FromSearch=Y&Publisher=1&SearchText=no0237&SortString=ProjectCode&SortOrder=Asc&Paging=10

For further information:  John Stewart on 0207 737 6641; 07957385650