High Courts give Wandsworth Council the go ahead

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to challenge night flight plans

The Government wants to increase number of early morning arrivals (before 6am) at Heathrow from 16 to 18 from October 2006. The hearing date to be advised.

Wandsworth Council leader Edward Lister said:

"We are trying to protect the quality of life for our residents. Having studied the proposals we simply do not believe the Government is behaving rationally.

"The Government admits that the true noise level of the current early morning flights is understated by 74 per cent - but it does nothing to address this.

"It has the same system of night controls for three London airports - yet 90 per cent of the people affected live under the Heathrow flightpath.

"It offers no definition of what it means by 'excessive noise' - making it impossible for anyone to judge whether the current controls strike the right balance.

"It continues to average out noise from aircraft throughout a six and a half hour night period - even though all the planes land in a 90 minute slot between 4.30am and 6am.

"And it continues to claim that these 16 flights bring the country essential economic benefits - but it does not tell us what they are and it does not tell us how they have been weighed against the environmental impact and damage to health."

"The current numbers limit had been imposed by the courts in 1994. We need to combine the pressure of public opinion, legal action and parliamentary lobbying to force the Government to back down."

September 29, 2005