Noise News
Below are links to stories about noise in relation to airports and aviation.
Heathrow Airport clear winner at the Noise Olympics, for the largest number affected by plane noise!
Heathrow was the clear winner of the Noise Olympics staged by campaign group HACAN in Ravenscourt Park in Hammersmith. The event was a 100 metres race, with 8 runners (representing the 7 European airports which overfly most people plus Gatwick), each wearing t-shirts with the airport name and the number living within the 55 Lden noise contours. Heathrow received its medal, in the form of golden ear-defenders, from the local MP Andy Slaughter. The silver ear-defenders went to Frankfurt and the bronze to Charles De Gaulle. Heathrow won the race because it overflies more people than any other airport in Europe. According to European Commission figures over 725,000 residents are overflown which is 28% of all people in Europe disturbed by aircraft noise. That figure is from 2006, which is the most recent data available, though another estimate was 756,000. However, many people are affected by plane noise outside that contour, making the real numbers even higher. HACAN chair John Stewart said, “This was a fun way of showing that Heathrow is already in a noise league of its own. Residents are very worried what a 3rd runway with an extra 250,000 flights a year will mean.” There are estimates of how many more would be affected with expansion - perhaps another quarter of a million people, but until detailed flight path routes are known, this can only be an estimate.
Click here to view full story...
Salfords parish council to enlist aviation expert to battle Gatwick Route 4 flight path change
Salfords and Sidlow Parish Council council is to pay up to £1,000 for an aviation expert to help battle "awful" Gatwick flight noise. They have agreed to hire someone to provide guidance on why Gatwick's recent adjustment to Route 4 appears to be causing problems for residents, after receiving reports of "intolerable noise and disturbance". Route 4 was modified 2 years ago to fly slightly further north than before, causing a lot of distress to those newly, and intensively, overflown. The route has now been moved further south, but is narrower than before, causing serious noise problems for the thousands affected. Salfords and Sidlow is one of the areas now worse affected, and they are badly affected - including late at night and in the early morning, with low planes overhead. People who bought their homes a year or two ago, when the areas was relatively quiet, did not anticipate this noise assault. Affected residents will not allow their lives to be ruined and their properties blighted by the introduction of this route using P-RNAV technology, which effectively allows aircraft to fly on a single track with no respite for those below. At the least, there must be period of the day without planes - respite. The most recent adjustment to Route 4 is not permanent and a six-month monitoring period runs until November - people need to send their views to Gatwick, which passes them to the CAA.
Click here to view full story...
CAGNE report shows how widespread and unacceptable Gatwick 2nd runway noise would be
Local Gatwick community group, CAGNE (Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Emissions) had produced a new short report on the extent of the noise impact a 2nd Gatwick runway would have. CAGNE says Gatwick’s local communities have been side-lined as the airport has failed to develop a proper strategy to deal with aircraft noise with expansion. A second runway would mean double the number of people impacted by night flights and create 24-hour “noise ghetto from hell.” CAGNE says Gatwick’s expansion proposals contravene Government policy on aircraft noise by failing to incorporate measures which would reduce noise. This is especially unsatisfactory as the Government is likely to make a runway decision, or at least a statement of preference between Heathrow and Gatwick, in early September or in October. The unacceptable noise burden from Heathrow is well known. Gatwick has tried to make out that its noise problem is small by comparison. However, CAGNE shows that Gatwick (with a 2nd runway it would be the size of Heathrow now) plans to use both runways in segregated mode, so both are used all day for both landings and take offs. This does not allow the half day respite from which those under Heathrow flights benefit. Gatwick also plans to continue night flights all night, which Heathrow has been told it cannot do.
Click here to view full story...
Government (Chris Grayling and Sajid Javid) approve expansion of London City airport
The Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, and Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, have announced they are allowing the expansion programme at London City Airport. The plans are for an extended terminal, new aircraft taxiway and parking spaces for planes, which will enable more, larger, noisier planes to use the airport. The government is hoping this is a symbol of Britain "being open for business" and increasing connections with Europe, at a time of great fears about the impact of Brexit. With government fears for the economy, they are trumpeting the expansion as creating "1,600 airport jobs for staff, together with 500 construction jobs" and huge benefits to the economy. All three ministers made extravagant and excited statements about the positive impact of this expansion. Boris Johnson earlier turned it down on grounds of unacceptable noise levels for Londoners. Hacan East, the local campaign, is very concerned indeed about the noise. They say residents will now face a double whammy. Earlier this year, in February, London City concentrated all its flight paths, and now the people under these flight paths face the prospect of more and larger planes.” Cait Hewitt, from the Aviation Environment Federation, said: "It is hard to see how an increase in aircraft and in passengers travelling to and from London City can be compatible with the Mayor’s ambitious plans to tackle air pollution in London."
Click here to view full story...
Luton Airport flight path changes “unfair to Hertfordshire residents”
Luton Airport's change in flight paths are affecting residents throughout Herts, including those living in Stevenage, Harpenden, Welwyn Garden City and St Albans - but avoids Luton itself. Complaints about plane noise from Luton Airport have leapt by 78%, with residents saying their lives have been “devastated” by detrimental flight path changes. The latest edition of the airport’s quarterly monitoring report has also revealed a 60% rise in the number of complainants. Flight movement maps in the report, recording westerly and easterly movements over a 24 hour period in March, show a concentration of planes flying over many urban areas in Herts, including St Albans district, Stevenage, Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City. Yet, the skies above Luton, and the immediate area around the town - apart from the airport’s location in the south - appear to be mostly devoid of aircraft by comparison. Between January and March this year, there were 191 noise complaints, compared to 107 in the first quarter in 2015. The airport has been expanding rapidly since its owner, and prime beneficiary, Luton borough council, controversially approved its bid to near double passenger throughput to 18 million a year in December 2013.
Click here to view full story...
Determined opposition to 3rd runway from Ascot area residents badly affected by Heathrow noise
People in Ascot and surrounding areas are bitterly opposed to further expansion of Heathrow, and formed a local group Residents Against Aircraft Noise (RAAN). The area is around 15 miles from Heathrow, and residents are upset and annoyed about the new level of plane noise they are having to endure. Before early 2014 there were virtually no flights to or from Heathrow over the area. Then in August 2014, Heathrow started 'trials' without informing anyone and since then the area has been subjected to an enormous amount of noise pollution. People say they have not been able to get proper uninterrupted night's sleep for almost two years, for most of the time, due to plane noise which only stops for a few hours each night - not enough to get 7 hours sleep, let alone 8 hours of peace. People feel they can no longer enjoy their gardens in summer any more, with planes thundering overhead as often as every 3 minutes. In hot weather, people have to choose between being hot with fresh air, and less plane noise - or being cooler with the windows open, but being woken up. There is anger, in Ascot as in so many areas, that Heathrow is able to "ride roughshod over our peace, homes, business, environment.” The prospect of another runway, making the noise situation even worse, is almost unimaginable. Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM), wrote to David Cameron regarding the issues about noise and air pollution at Heathrow.
Click here to view full story...
Aircraft noise and mental well-being – the looming challenge only starting to be acknowledged
Chris spoke movingly at the event held at the House of Commons, on 4th July, about his experiences of dealing with both mental health problems and the unwanted imposition of aircraft noise from Heathrow flights near his home. In a blog, Chris explains some of the issues of depression, especially serious depression, its impacts on other family members and the time people can take to get well. Many people with mental ill-health are vulnerable to noise, and noise sensitive. Through no fault of their own, other than choosing to live in the wrong place, people can find themselves subjected to relentless intrusive plane noise, that causes stress, anxiety and depression. Having moved to a quite area, to recover from illness, Heathrow changed flight path use, so Chris's home was intensely overflown. The anxiety this cause was made worse as there was no proper information or reassurance from anyone about what was going on, or why, or when it might stop. Worse still, it was unclear what, if anything, anyone affected could, do to try and protect themselves. As well as annoyance, eventually the feeling of powerlessness, having no legal remedies, and the perceived lack of fairness about the situation, lead to a crushing sense of helplessness. For those with mental conditions, this can have dangerous - even life threatening - results. The seriousness of the noise problem, especially for those already susceptible to depression, needs to be acknowledged. The issue of people who are vulnerable to noise should not be ignored any longer.
Click here to view full story...
Blog: Heathrow’s truly negative health impacts on millions of people are not ameliorated by the airport providing local employment
At an event held on 4th July in Parliament, the issue of the noise impact of Heathrow flights on mental health was considered. This is perhaps the first time this has been discussed, and the links made. Heathrow's Matt Gorman spoke at the meeting, and said Heathrow creates jobs and those employed have better mental health because of their financial security. This spurred Murray Barter, a member of one of the groups that emerged in the past 2 years, due to changes to Heathrow flight paths, to write a blog about the widespread dissatisfaction there is with Heathrow and the way it is dealing with communities. In his impassioned blog, Murray says: "Employment at Heathrow for a minority is not, and cannot be, an antidote to the known adverse impacts on health, well being and quality of life that are caused by the airport's operations. These affect hundreds of thousands, indeed millions, of people living as much as thirty miles from Heathrow." And "The adverse effects of plane noise on vast numbers of people - including increased incidence of mental stress and depression - cannot, and must not, be swept under the carpet merely because Heathrow provides employment. The good does not outweigh the bad, and attempting to blur the two does Heathrow no credit." And Heathrow expansion cannot be used as a social experiment in noise torture for the unfortunate minority who find themselves under a "noise canyon" (the CAA's term). Read the full blog.
Click here to view full story...
Findings of the NORAH study in Frankfurt, on effect of aircraft noise on mental well-being and depression
At the event in the House of Commons on 4th July, exploring the relationships between exposure to aircraft noise and mental health, a presentation was given by Dirk Schreckenberg, from Hagen, Germany. He is one of the research psychologists who worked on the NORAH study (Noise-Related Annoyance, Cognition, and Health) carried out in Frankfurt, before and after the opening of the 4th runway. The NORAH study is the largest and most comprehensive to look at the impacts of aircraft noise on people's health and quality of life, and also its impacts on children. One sub-study looked at mental well-being, and another looked at depression. It was clear from the data that people were more annoyed and more affected by noise from the new runway, and at lower noise levels, than had been expected. Though the links are complicated, and not entirely linear, there is a clear link between worsening mental well-being and more plane noise. There was a clear relationship between depression and aircraft noise, with more depression at levels of noise that are widely experienced. The data form an inverted "U" shape graph, indicating less depression at the highest noise levels. The reasons are unclear, but may be a "healthy resident" effect.
Click here to view full story...
Ground-breaking seminar on aircraft noise and mental health held in House of Commons
A ground-breaking seminar discussing the impact of aircraft noise on mental health was held in Parliament on 4th July. The seminar, by HACAN and the Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) explored the issue. Hosted by Dr Tania Mathias, MP for Twickenham, the seminar heard from Dirk Schreckenberg, one of the authors of the seminal NORAH study which looked at the link between noise and health at Frankfurt Airport. The study found negative effects on both mental well-being and on depression, from plane noise - especially in people experiencing increased levels of noise. A resident from West London, Chris Keady, spoke about his own history of mental problems, and the effect of high levels of aircraft noise on him. Not enough is known about the impact of exposure to aircraft noise, especially loud noise, often repeated, at different times of day and night, on mental health and stress levels. The evidence suggests that people who already have mental health issues can find aircraft noise particularly disturbing. There is a real problem if there is no escape from the noise, and people feel powerless and impotent against this imposition. We need a constructive dialogue involving noise experts, politicians, campaigners and the aviation industry to give proper consideration to this issue. Matt Gorman from Heathrow Airport also spoke at the event.