DfT Carries Out Heathrow Airport Noise Report
A study has been carried out by the Department of Transport on the subject of aircraft noise which, according to the Times, the UK government is trying to hide while it contemplates further developing London Heathrow Airport.
The report argues that the present method by which the noise generated by aircraft landing/taking off is measured is now obsolete. It accounts for neither the large increase in flight volume, nor the heightening public demand for a quiet life.
The current monitoring system was implemented in 1982. Then, Heathrow Airport handled 273,000 flights per annum.
In 2006, that figure had leapt to 477,000.
The study discovered that people within higher earning brackets were more inclined to be angered by aircraft noise and, furthermore, that they were typically aged between 35 and 64yrs.
The Times claims to have obtained a copy of the report – entitled ‘Attitudes to Noise from Aviation Sources in England’ – in its draft form. The points contained within effectively undermine the validity of a third runway’s construction at Heathrow. Runway three, which, in the government’s eyes, should be operational no later than 2020, would result in the creation of new flight paths. As many as 500 additional aircraft could pass over London per day.
The report, said The Times, finished by asserting: “At the same level of aircraft noise exposure, people are more annoyed in 2005 than they were in 1982 . . . People today have higher expectations of their rights to a peaceful and harmonious living environment and are more openly critical of policy-making and government, than people at the beginning of the 1980s.”
A previous report, entitled the White Paper, was issued in 2003. In reference to the subject of Heathrow’s third runway, it affirmed that its construction would only proceed if it could be guaranteed that the area around Heathrow where the aircraft noise level is at 57 decibels would stay that way. 57 decibels is the sound level traditionally considered to indicate “the onset of significant community annoyance”. However, the new report considers a more representative figure to be 50 decibels.
258,000 thousand people live within Heathrow’s 57-decibel zone. However, close to two and million occupy an area where 50 decibels of aircraft noise can be recorded.
As detailed by a spokesman from the so-called “2M” collective of 12 authorities in the Heathrow area: “It is outrageous for the Government to hide this study”,
He continued: “(it)... reveals how the impact of aircraft noise has been seriously underestimated. They are trying sneak through the third runway consultation without giving the public the full facts.”
Source – Airport International’s London Reporter
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