Residents in areas near Luton urged to record the aircraft noise
Date added: 7 June, 2014
Residents in the Luton area have held a meeting to voice their concerns following the decision in early May by the Government (Eric Pickles) to not call in the planning application for the expansion for Luton Airport. The meeting, chaired by Luton and District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (LADACAN), was held in Breachwood Green and was attended by about 50 people. They were encouraged to record aircraft noise, to keep details of the current situation, to illustrate the increased impact an extra 55,000 flights a year would have on those living nearby. The expansion application would see passenger capacity rise from 12.5 million to 18 million a year by 2026. That decision has been widely criticised by local people,and by their MPs who realise it will adversely affect local quality of life for thousands. It means the expansion can now be granted by Luton Borough Council – which also owns the airport. There is very real and widespread concern about the number of night flights, noise both of departures and arrivals, road congestion, and air quality – as well as climate change implications.
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Residents urged to record Luton Airport noise from aircraft
Luton Airport
by Chandni Tanna ( Local Comet)
June 4, 2014
Residents gathered last week to voice their concerns following the decision by the Government to not call in the planning application for the expansion for Luton Airport.
The meeting, chaired by Luton and District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (LADACAN), was held at Breachwood Green Village Hall on Thursday, May 29.
About 50 people attended and were encouraged by LADACAN to record aircraft noise to illustrate the increased impact an extra 55,000 flights a year would have on those living nearby,
Last month Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, decided not to call in the expansion application – which would also see passenger capacity rise from 12.5 million to 18m a year by 2026.
The decision, which has been widely criticised by Comet country MPs, means the planning application for the expansion can now be granted by Luton Borough Council – which owns the airport.
Speaking about the meeting, Andrew Lambourne from campaign group Hertfordshire Against Luton Expansion (HALE) said: “The meeting gave people the chance to find out where things currently stand with the planning application and raise their concerns. A high level of frustration was expressed that it appears so little can be done to head off the quality-of-life impact of the Luton Airport expansion.”
Some of the issues that were raised were the number of night flights, the level of noise both during departure and arrival, road congestion, air quality and climate change and the general safety risk.
People concerned about aircraft noise or flights are asked to record the details and email noise@ltn.aero
http://www.thecomet.net/news/residents_urged_to_record_luton_airport_noise_from_aircraft_1_3629301
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LADACAN Members’ meeting on Thursday 29th May
LADACAN is holding an informal meeting on Thursday 29th May at 8pm in Breachwood Green Village Hall to discuss the latest developments re Luton Airport expansion (see below), and what options are open to us for further action
Government ignores its own policy
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has decided not to “call-in” the Airport’s plan for expansion leaving the way clear for Luton Borough Council to grant permission. We have no details of the basis of this decision but it appears that the Government is prepared to let its policy on aircraft noise fall by the wayside on this, its first test since it was approved last year.
LADACAN wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport in January pointing out that the decision does not conform to the policy and that planning applications such as this are his only means of enforcing the policy.
Meanwhile, there appears to be huge confusion over the conditions which the Council wants to apply to the grant of permission: there is a significant danger that LADACAN and the other residents’ groups which oppose the plans will agree with the Airport management that the conditions are not fit for purpose and make little sense.
http://www.ladacan.org/
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Luton Airport operators LLAOL have announced that Eric Pickles, Secretary of State, has decided not to call in the expansion plans, meaning that Luton Borough Council can now grant planning permission for works designed to achieve a doubling of annual passenger capacity.
The government is clearly hell-bent on expanding airport capacity in the South East, come what may. Regardless of the fact that 70% of the public who responded to the consultation over Luton Airport Expansion said NO, ignoring the fact that aviation is the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gases, and despite the application technically constituting a nationally significant infrastructure project, Eric Pickles has failed to call this application in for proper scrutiny.
The airport’s announcement this morning mentions everything except the key local issues: the effect of an extra 9 million passengers per year on the already crowded transport infrastructure, and the effect of noise from 60% more flights. The throwaway comment at the end about being a good neighbour is meaningless unless the airport takes seriously the concerns about noise and puts in place measures to make a difference. That means a Noise Action Plan which has some real bite, and Planning Conditions which control noise over local communities.
http://www.hale.uk.net/category/news/
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Posted: Saturday, June 7th, 2014. Filed in News about Airports, Noise News, Recent News.