Campaign group HACAN East has written to the Civil Aviation Authority to ask it to suspend the current consultation being carried out by London City Airport into flight path changes in East London (letter copied below).
HACAN East argues that the tens of thousands of residents who are in line to get more planes if the flight path changes go ahead are not being told about them. London City is proposing to concentrate the flights taking off from the airport in a narrow corridor.
Areas directly under the favored flight path will be Bow, Hackney Wick, Leyton Midland Road, Leytonstone, Barkingside and Colliers Row. City Airport is currently consulting on the proposed changes but is not leafleting the areas that will be worst affected.
The changes are part of a wider reorganization of the airspace across London and the South East which is been overseen by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). New computer technology can now guide aircraft much more accurately when they are landing and taking off. It gives airports the option of varying the routes the planes use in order to give all residents some respite from the noise or of concentrating all the planes on one route.
London City has chosen to concentrate the aircraft.
HACAN East chair John Stewart said, “Quite simply, London City is creating a noise ghetto. No wonder they are afraid to spell out to the residents what is in store for them. Nobody is telling the residents what will be in store for them.”
Stewart added, “We have written an official letter to the CAA, which oversees the consultation, calling for it to be suspended.
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The City Airport consultation documents can be found at http://www.londoncityairport.com/londonairspacemanagement
The consultation started on 4th September and runs until 27th November 2014.
Responses to the consultation should be emailed to lamp@londoncityairport.com
Letter to the CAA
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to you to express our concerns about the shortcomings in the current LAMP [London Airspace Management Programme] consultation being carried out by London City Airport.
We believe they are serious. The consultation makes it clear that the future flight paths will be concentrated over particular areas yet there is no guarantee in this consultation that the residents who will be impacted will be made aware of this fact and offered the opportunity to respond.
London City identifies the key stakeholders who are being consulted as “The London City Airport Consultative Committee (ACC) which includes representatives of Local Authorities, community representatives and other organisations that have expressed an interest in the activities of the airport; members of the National Air Traffic Management Committee (NATMAC) which includes representatives of all types of airspace users; airlines that operate from London City Airport”.
As far as we are aware neither the consultative committee nor the local authorities have plans for a door-to-door leaflet drop to the tens of thousands of residents who will find themselves living under the concentrated flight paths. We are not even certain it is their job to do so. It is probably the role of the airport. We are also not aware of any public meetings being organized in the affected areas. For example, we believe parts of Leytonstone will be badly affected. Who has told the residents?
If your powers allow you to do so, we would urge you to order all stakeholders to be fully consulted during this consultation or to suspend it and require a fresh consultation to take place.
Yours sincerely,
John Stewart
Chair HACAN East
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See also:
London City Airport accused of creating a “noise ghetto” with proposed concentrated flight paths
London City Airport have started a consultation on airspace changes (4th September to 27th November) as it wishes to alter flight paths. The change will be because instead of less accurate navigation by aircraft, they now can fly using a very accurate form of satnav for planes. This is referred to as RNAV, meaning precision navigation, by which aircraft can all fly a course accurate to within a few hundred metres. The effect is concentration of flight paths, so most fly the exact same route, and anyone living under that route gets all the planes, and all the noise. Campaign group HACAN East has accused London City Airport of failing to spell out to tens of thousands of residents in East London that they are in line to get many more planes overhead if proposed flight path changes go ahead. The consultation does not make this clear. Areas directly under the favored flight path – and the concentration -will be Bow, Hackney Wick, Leyton Midland Road, Leytonstone, Barkingside and Colliers Row. The effect will be to create a noise ghetto. Air traffic controllers like concentration of flight paths. However, it is often better – less unfair – to share out the noise burden, so many people get some flights, rather than a few getting them all.
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