GACC calls for flight path trial to stop due to anger and outrage in the village of Warnham

A new flight path for take-offs from Gatwick airport has caused outrage in the parish of Warnham, near Horsham.  Designed as a 6-month trial to enable more aircraft to take-off from the Gatwick runway it has already caused a wave of protest.  A member of the GACC (Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign), Sally Pavey, who lives in Warnham, says: ‘The tranquillity of our 14th century, conservation village has been lost and we seem powerless to do anything about it.  Everyone is up in arms as we are woken at 6.00 am with an aircraft overhead every few minutes. Living in Warnham has turned into a nightmare!’ GACC has called for the trial to be stopped.  The new route is causing an unacceptable degree of upset and maximum anger. It is just a small foretaste of what is to come if a new runway were to be built.  “With a new runway the new flight paths would bring anger and misery to perhaps 30 or more towns and villages.  And that would be permanent, not just for 6 months.  Warnham is a wake-up call for why we should all oppose a new runway.’
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Village outraged by new flight path. GACC calls for trial to stop

30 or more towns and villages could suffer same fate

Gatwick new runway indicative departure flight paths

A new flight path has caused outrage in the parish of Warnham, near Horsham.  Designed as a six-month trial to enable more aircraft to take-off from the Gatwick runway it has already caused a wave of protest.  GACC committee member, Sally Pavey, who lives in Warnham, says: ‘The tranquillity of our 14th century, conservation village has been lost and we seem powerless to do anything about it.  Everyone is up in arms as we are woken at 6.00 am with an aircraft overhead every few minutes, living in Warnham has turned into a nightmare!’

GACC has called for the trial to be stopped.  ‘It is due to last six months which could be intolerable” says GACC vice chairman, John Byng:  ‘It has also proved what we have always said – that any new route causes maximum anger as people find their peace destroyed and their houses devalued.

‘It is just a small foretaste of what is to come if a new runway were to be built’ according to Brendon Sewill, GACC chairman.  ‘With a new runway the new flight paths would bring anger and misery to perhaps 30 or more towns and villages.  And that would be permanent, not just for six months.  Warnham is a wake-up call for why we should all oppose a new runway.’

For further information

See www.gacc.org.uk/latest-news

The Argus: Angry Warnham residents

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Gatwick new runway indicative departure flight paths

file:///C:/Users/Sarah/Downloads/FlightPathsDepart.pdf

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The Argus: Angry Warnham residents

Illustration of course of trial flight path over Warnham, north west of Horsham

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See also

 

Villages up in arms as new Gatwick flight path shatters their peace and quiet

Date added: March 9, 2014

The Sunday Times has featured the story of the misery and upset being caused over villages in Sussex by a new trial flight path from Gatwick. The village of Warnham is particularly affected. It is a quiet village, but now has planes taking off from Gatwick thundering overhead. Some of the affected residents are the mother-in-law of Boris Johnson, who said who say the noise is so loud that it sets off baby monitors and drowns out the sound of local church bells. Also Caroline Lucas, whose family owns the 215-acre Warnham Park, with a large herd of red deer, said: “How long will future generations stay here? That’s the question you have to ask.” The 6 month trial, of which there was no notice given to local residents, is of a new departure route for planes mainly bound for southern Europe, which are now turning south earlier than they normally do. The airport says the trial is to find out if a new aircraft navigation system will allow air traffic controllers to reduce the interval between flights taking off from two minutes to one, potentially allowing more flights to take off at peak times. ie. make Gatwick even busier than now.

Click here to view full story…

 

Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign speaks up for the village of Warnham, suffering from an unannounced flight path trial

March 4, 2014

A new flight path has been introduced for aircraft taking off from Gatwick to the west, then turning left around Horsham. It passes directly over the village of Warnham and is apparently a trial designed in order to get more aircraft off the Gatwick runway. GACC (the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign) considers it intolerable that new misery and a decline in house values should be caused just to create extra profit for the owners of Gatwick. Normally there are 3 take off routes to the west, which are contained within compulsory Noise Preferential Route (NPR) corridors. The new route route departs from the NPR, particularly over Warnham, where it has caused consternation. The trial is a technical one not intended to measure the social impact and they did not announce it in advance so as not to provoke complaints that might not have emerged otherwise. The airport says because it is a trial it was not necessary to consult, as would be a legal requirement if the new route were to be permanent. GACC say there is no national need for this route change – Stansted airport is operating at less than half its capacity. People fear that this new route is a small fore-taste of the widespread misery and protest that would be created across Surrey and Sussex by a new runway.

Click here to view full story…

 

New Gatwick flightpath trials are ‘destroying’ village life at Warnham, West Sussex

February 27, 2014

Residents in Warnham, about 10 km south west of Gatwick, and complaining strenuously about low-flying aircraft going over their homes from 6am each day. They feel the character of their village, let alone its tranquillity, are being destroyed. This is part of a trial for a new new flightpath which started on February 17th and will continue for 6 months. The trial is being run by NATS in conjunction with Gatwick airport, but people in Warnham complain that they were not notified or consulted in advance of the trial. The planes pass over the village at approximately 2,000ft and villagers say they can be as frequent as every 5 minutes at some times of day. The noise is loud enough to have raised concerns about its impact on vulnerable residents, in particular the elderly and disabled. The Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC) claims that rural residents suffer more from noise pollution than urban residents. The noise is more intrusive as there is little background noise. GACC is concerned that the trial of the new flightpath over Warnham is designed solely to get more aircraft off the Gatwick runway. “It is intolerable that new misery and decline in house values should be caused just to create extra profit.”     Click here to view full story…

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Concerns about the effectiveness of a new aviation noise authority – and the public’s trust in it

March 4, 2014

In its interim report published on 17th December 2013, the Airports Commission recommended to government “… the establishment of an Independent Noise Authority to provide expert and impartial advice about the noise impacts of aviation and to facilitate the delivery of future improvements to airspace operations.” GACC – the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign – has responded to this suggestion with a lot of caveats. GACC would welcome the authority if its main purpose is to reduce aircraft noise, but not if its main purpose is to persuade local residents to relax their opposition to a new runway at Gatwick. Residents want the noise to be reduced, not ‘mitigating’, and not ‘reducing the number of people affected’ if that means merely making noise worse for fewer people. . There have been years of unsatisfactory complaints mechanisms on aircraft noise, and also of broken assurances from the aviation industry. “A single point for complaints, an aircraft noise ombudsman with power to order improvement or compensation, would be welcome. But we do not see this in the recommendations of the Commission’s Interim Report.” There are fears that the new body will be “long grass into which difficult issues could be consigned.” A body designed to smooth the path of a new runway, whether at Gatwick or elsewhere would be vigorously opposed.

Click here to view full story…

 

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