Ministers should publish details of flight paths for new Heathrow or Gatwick runway
One of the glaring omissions from the Airports Commission’s report and its areas of research was to establish the flight paths for the three short listed options. As the noise impact is an absolutely critical factor in the opposition to a new runway, information on these routes is key. But because UK airspace is being re-designed at present, there is no certainty even about the existing flight paths several years ahead, let alone new ones. It would be unavoidable that tens or hundreds of new people would be overflown for the first time by planes using a new runway. So far, these people are entirely unaware of the problems they would face. Ruth Cadbury asked Patrick McLoughlin about this on 14th December: “Will he force Heathrow airport to declare where the flight paths will be, particularly the approach paths…” Sadiq Khan said Londoners had been “kept in the dark for too long” on the runway decision, and detailed flight paths should be published for a Heathrow 3rd runway to show which communities would be blighted by more noise. The same are needed for areas affected by Gatwick, especially as it has far more night flights than Heathrow. Zac Goldsmith has already published indicative routes for Heathrow, but these are just speculative at present.
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In the questions after Patrick McLouglin’s statement to Parliament on 14th December, Ruth Cadbury MP asked:
Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab): I believe that the delay is not merely political expediency; I believe that the Secretary of State has come to realise something I have known for 15 years: expansion at Heathrow is just too difficult. As well as air quality and noise, will he address the business case, over which the Airports Commission’s economic advisers seem to differ? Will he properly assess the ground-based security and crash risks of the different options—they were not so assessed in the commission’s report? Will he force Heathrow airport to declare where the flight paths will be, particularly the approach paths, and the differences between what the commission recommends for Heathrow and what Heathrow is prepared to accept?
Publish detailed Heathrow third runway flight paths, says Sadiq Khan
By NICHOLAS CECIL (Evening Standard)
Ministers were today urged to publish detailed flight paths for a Heathrow third runway to show which communities would be blighted by more noise.
Labour mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan said Londoners had been “kept in the dark for too long” about the localised impact of more than 200,000 additional flights a year.
“Ministers must publish full details of the projected impact on noise and air pollution and exactly who will be affected,” he said.
The Tooting MP, who now backs another runway at Gatwick rather than Heathrow, also accused the Tories of “dithering” over airport expansion to help their mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith by delaying a final decision on which option to choose until after the May election for London mayor.
Mr Goldsmith, who vowed to resign as MP for Richmond Park if the Government backs an expanded Heathrow, told of his “pride” if he had succeeded in swaying David Cameron against a third runway.
But he argued a decision to support Heathrow expansion had not been delayed as he believes it will never get the go-ahead on the grounds it cannot meet EU air quality rules — a claim strongly disputed by the airport.
Gatwick chief executive Stewart Wingate today suggested his proposals for a second runway were now the “frontrunner” after Cabinet ministers delayed the decision. Heathrow rejected this, arguing it is still the “only show in town” after the Airports Commission backed a third runway.
The Airports Commission did publish indicative maps showing which areas could be overflown by more flights to and from either Heathrow or Gatwick. But neither airport has published detailed flight paths which would reveal which communities to the east of Heathrow, as well as around Gatwick, would suffer from more noise.
Campaigners in Sussex also want more information on flight routes.
The airports panel insisted quieter aircraft and new technology could mean fewer people were blighted by noise from a three-runway, and possibly even a four-runway, Heathrow.
It also proposed a ban on night flights and ruling out a fourth runway, though Heathrow has so far refused to accept either.
The Commission also called for Heathrow to spend more than £1 billion on compensation, including noise insulation if a third runway gets approval. It said respite periods would become more predictable but did not highlight that some communities could see this cut from around half the day to a third.
A Heathrow spokeswoman said: “Our proposals have been designed so that fewer people are impacted by noise from Heathrow than today, and so that it is possible to offer respite to most people — or 95 per cent of people — for 50 per cent of the time.”
A Gatwick spokesman said: “Noise from Gatwick expansion would impact a fraction of the population compared to Heathrow.”
Both airports said they needed more firm information in order to draw up detailed flight paths.
The Department for Transport stressed that further work is being carried out into noise, air quality and carbon emissions resulting from airport expansion.
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Zac Goldsmith unveils maps showing 1 million under indicative flight paths for a 3 runway Heathrow
Zac’s all party group of MPs has produced a new map showing where flight paths might be, with a Heathrow 3rd runway. Their map shows that hundreds of thousands more London residents would find themselves under new flight paths if the runway was built. Senior Tories including Justine Greening and Boris Johnson joined Richmond MP Zac Goldsmith in Parliament to launch a campaign alerting people to the potential impact on neighbourhoods across the capital. Heathrow disputes the map, and nobody knows exactly where the flight paths would be. Zac said Heathrow was “already the biggest [noise] polluter in Europe by far” and that additional noise was just one of the reasons to oppose expansion. Boris Johnson said David Cameron should honour his 2010 pledge of “No if, No Buts, No 3rd Runway”. Jenny Jones and the Green Party were the only politicians present who said no runway should be built.myself. Zac Goldsmith is aware of the environmental reasons why no runway should be built. However, he has chosen not to say this and go with the dubious assumption that it is just a choice between Heathrow and Gatwick. He commented: “I recognise by piling pressure against Heathrow expansion, I make it more likely that you have Gatwick expansion, but my first priority is to stop Heathrow expansion, it has to be.”
Earlier map obtained by Zac Goldsmith
The red lines indicate what Heathrow have published as potential new flight paths if the airport expands. The blue lines are the current flight paths from Heathrow’s existing two runways.
CLICK THE MAP TO ZOOM IN AND SEE IF YOU ARE UNDER A NEW FLIGHTPATH (Map will open in a new tab) http://heathrowflightpaths.co.uk/images/home.jpg
Note: Heathrow have not released their final flightpath plans yet so the above is subject to change.
Do you live within this blue area? You could be impacted by an expanded Heathrow.
Details at http://heathrowflightpaths.co.uk/
CLICK THE MAP TO ZOOM IN AND SEE IF YOU ARE UNDER A NEW FLIGHTPATH (Map will open in a new tab). http://heathrowflightpaths.co.uk/images/areas.jpg
The blue area illustrates the flight path corridors for an expanded Heathrow Airport, based on the respite option indicative flight paths Heathrow submitted to the Airports Commission. It is unclear which of these flight paths are to be used for arrivals or departures and what type of navigation will be used, so we have followed standard practice of drawing 1.5km Noise Preferential Routes around each flight path to provide an approximation of where planes might fly.
Note: Heathrow have not released their final flightpath plans yet so the above is subject to change.