Noise News
Below are links to stories about noise in relation to airports and aviation.
Battle of Balsall Common’ over plane noise, from Birmingham flight path trial, goes to Parliament
The Battle of Balsall Common – which has triggered waves of complaints of noise nuisance from planes taking off at Birmingham Airport – is to go to Parliament. Angry residents are raising a protest petition to be sent to Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, to ask him to look at this trial, and call it in. People affected say their lives are being made a misery by trials launched in May in advance of new flight paths being made permanent. This has happened because of the runway extension. People are deeply angry and anxious, because these flight paths are away from the NPR routes (Noise Preferential Routes), which everyone has known about for years. People have checked, in the past, to ensure they have not chosen to live near an NPR. Now, areas which nobody could have guessed would be overflow have planes overhead every few minutes. Campaigners took to the streets of Balsall Common last weekend to get signatures, in a bid to force a Government rethink of the new flight path. David Ellis, of the Balsall Common Action Group, said: ““We are told they are over 3,000 feet but that is not the point – the noise is the problem." There will be a public meeting on July 16th on the problem.
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Flight path changes could create nationwide protests due to the scale of the areas affected
Writing in a blog, in response to the huge anger and upset there has been around Gatwick in response to the flight path trial over Warnham and nearby villages (called the ADNID trial, in the jargon), John Stewart anticipates that flightpath trials are going to be a real headache for the industry for years to come. He says "flightpath" will be the ‘F’ word that will be on everybody’s lips over the next few years. The big changes to flightpaths which are expected over the next 5 - 6 years could trigger protests on a scale that could exceed the opposition to any proposed new runway. In their scope, they could be more like the ‘anti-roads’ protests of the 1990s. The aviation industry is currently undertaking the most far-reaching changes to airspace across the UK for 60 years, due to the EU scheme, SESAR. It is changes to the Heathrow flight paths that are making the industry particularly nervous. That's the reason why flightpaths at Gatwick and London City are being looked at first - and why Heathrow is very tentatively experimenting with new take-off techniques. "What will worry Heathrow in particular is that the consultation on its flight path changes, expected around 2016/17, could coincide with the decision of the next Government as to whether or not to back a 3rd runway."
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Balsall Common and nearby villages to petition Sec of State to get unpopular Birmingham flight path trial reviewed
After the opening of the Birmingham airport runway extension on 1st May, the airport has been doing a "trial" of a new flight path. This will last for 6 months, till the end of October. The effect of this trial is to create a lot of aircraft noise over villages, Balsall Common in particular. Now the local group, the "Balsall Common Airport Action group" has organised a petition to the Secretary of State, asking that the proposed flight path changes should be reviewed, in view of the sharp increase in noise nuisance to the communities living at the southerly end of the extended runway and the failure of the trial to ensure aircraft follow the new flight path options accurately. They are organising a protest on 5th July, and they will be going door to door, in the affected villages, gathering support and getting signatures for their petition. Local MP Caroline Spelman is backing the petition, as well as local politicians. People feel their complaints and constructive suggestions have been ignored, and that Paul Kehoe is wholly dismissive of residents' views. "It's all about the money and business profits," residents claim.
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Heathrow’s noise claims do not stack up, according to new reports
Heathrow’s claims that a third runway will improve the overall noise climate for residents do not stack up, according to analysis done by HACAN. Their new briefing, "Do Heathrow's noise claims stack up?" has compared Heathrow’s arguments with the findings of 2 recently-published reports (by the CAA and by the Mayor of London) and concludes that “Heathrow’s claims are unravelling in the face of the independent evidence.” The most damning indictment of Heathrow is in the Atkins report showing their claim that a 3rd runway will mean “at least 30% noise reduction” by 2030 is based on the assumption that the new runway will be only operating at one-third capacity. Both reports challenge Heathrow’s prediction that 90% of the planes using the airport in 2026, when any new runway is expected to open, will be the quieter ‘new generation’ aircraft. They are dubious of steeper landings, and believe people under the current flight paths will get shorter respite periods in order to give people under the new flight paths some respite too. HACAN chair John Stewart said the 2 new independent reports illustrate the near-impossibility of sorting out noise at Heathrow.
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New study on noise, including aircraft noise, says health of residents of Montreal under threat
A study in Montreal, Quebec, by the public health department, shows that Montrealers near highways, rail yards and Trudeau airport are most likely to be exposed to excessive noise. Over a two-week period in August 2010, noise levels were measured every 2 minutes at a range of locations. During the day, two-thirds of the spots were above the WHO’s suggested maximum. The negative effects include annoyance (inability to concentrate, occasionally being awoken, difficulty carrying on conversations); sleep disturbance (frequent waking, which can affect health); and, most seriously, cardiovascular disease, especially high blood pressure, which increases as people are exposed to noise. The data will be assessed by a new noise-management committee looking into noise sources, including the airport. Several measures will be looked at, including re-zoning, and new soundproofing standards. Data needs to be gathered on whether the increase in planes outweighs the tiny improvements in the noise per plane. Campaigners Les Pollués de Montréal-Trudeau say flight altitudes over Montreal should be raised and there should be a “genuine night-time (flight) curfew,” not just noise insulation.
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Sydney Airport targets to limit flights over parts of the city not met, and have never been met
Sydney Airport has failed to meet its aircraft noise-sharing targets every year since they were set 17 years ago, with suburbs immediately to its north bearing up to double the number of planes set by the airport's operating plan as ''fair''. Under targets set in Sydney Airport's long-term operating plan, some suburbs are meant to have 17% of aircraft movements overhead. Instead, those areas have had more than 30% of flights every month for the past 3 years, and regularly have more than double the target. The number of aircraft movements is increasing, and the number of larger planes is also rising. Sydney Airport has 2 north-south runways, as well as an east-west runway. During busy times planes are routed over suburbs south and north of the airport, rather than east-west. Larger planes can only use the longer north-south runway. In 1996, in response to growing public pressure over aircraft noise, the government regulator set targets for 55% of movements to go south of the airport, 13% to the east, 15% to the west, and 17% to the north. Local group, No Aircraft Noise, said the noise-sharing targets were a political fix designed to calm public anger, and it was known the targets could never be met.
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Belgians are asking Canadian pension fund to put pressure on government to reverse Brussels flight path changes
Brussels airport is managed by the Brussels Airport Company, which is 39% owned of Canadian pension fund Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) which is the 2nd largest manager of institutional funds in Canada. It invests the pension funds of 307,000 active and retired teachers working in public schools in Ontario. Now a group of Belgians are asking administrators of OTPP to put pressure on the Belgian authorities to reverse the decision, taken in February, to change flight paths over central Brussels. Opponents of the flight path changes say the new routes triple the number of people affected by aircraft noise. The campaign, "Pas Question!" say: "Imagine that the (Canadian) Federal Government directed 50% of the planes taking off from Toronto airport over the city center. And everything to relieve the periphery! " They believe it is a political decision, and must be reversed by politicians. The government has indicated it may be open to revision of the plans, but rejects the idea of returning to the old flight paths.
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Tunbridge Wells & Bidborough residents, and High Weald parishes unite against Gatwick runway plans
The threat of a 2nd Gatwick runway is a very real one for people living under existing flight paths, and in areas where new flight paths are likely. Now villages 20 miles out to the east from Gatwick have formed an action group to campaign against Gatwick's expansion plans. The Parish Councils of Chiddingstone, Hever, Leigh and Penshurst have formed the High Weald Parish Councils Aviation Action Group. There is also a new, and highly active, group at Bidborough, BEAG. At a meeting on 17th June in Tunbridge Wells the noise problem of existing an new flights paths was discussed. Local people fear a new Gatwick ‘Superhighway’ route across their area, with some 350 planes per day – all the aircraft arriving at Gatwick from the south – in a concentrated stream above West Kent most of the year from 06:30-11:30 hours without respite. There is real opposition to the noise nuisance, and reduction in the quality of life, of thousands from the flight paths. There is also real concern about the noise's negative impact on the tourism industries of West Kent - such as the unique and historically valuable Hever Castle and Penshurst Place.
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“Pas Question!” [“No Way!”] group in Brussels fights the hated Wathelet Plan flight path changes
On 6th February this year, Melchior Wathelet (Belgium's secretary of state in charge of Environment, Energy and Mobility) introduced a plan that reorganizes the departure routes from Brussels airport in Zaventem. As a result of this "Wathelet Plan", the majority of departing aircraft are routed over densely populated areas of central and southern Brussels. The changes are deeply controversial and deeply unpopular among the Brussels residents, who have not been intensively over-flown before. There is huge anger about the changes, and that the numbers over-flown are now far higher than before. On the plus side, some areas that were previously over-flown now have fewer flights. Now almost 18,000 residents have signed a petition to suspend the Wathelet Plan. Its opponents say it was introduced without any prior consultation with local residents, and that in other EU countries, such a consultation process is a regulatory requirement before any change to aircraft flight paths is made. An active group called "Pas Question!" - which means "No Way!" has formed, and they regard the new flight paths as nonsensical. They want the plan cancelled, and are convinced that an alternative policy is possible.
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Plane noise from Heathrow drowns out Hounslow school, as Sir Howard makes a visit
In a 2 minute video clip by the BBC, the head teacher, Dee Scott, of the Beavers Primary School in Hounslow, shows Sir Howard Davies - head of the Airports Commission, round the school. She explains to him and members of the Commission the impact another runway could have and the problems of trying to teach against the noise. The area is subjected to a plane overhead about every 90 seconds or so (noise lasting perhaps 30 seconds of that) for at least half of each school day (with westerly operations). And the problem of having to be either cool enough - with the windows open - but with noise that makes the proper function of the school impossible. OR keep the windows closed, and reduce the noise while everyone inside is uncomfortably hot. Sir Howard's exact words in the film were that the Airports Commission has to "balance the economic interests of the many and the environmental and nuisance costs to the few". The "few" means about 725,000 people currently affected by Heathrow noise, within the 55 decibel Lden contour and about 245,000 in the 57 decibel LAeq contour.