Anti-aircraft noise campaigners turn to the House of Lords

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hoping for a block to ministers plans for more night flights to Heathrow

The Government's Civil Aviation Bill will be discussed in committee on December 5 and 8. Clause 2 (2) of the Bill would abolish the current protection which limits the number of flights before 6am

Instead ministers want to move to a system where noise levels of aircraft are averaged to provide an overall noise dose. The weakness with this approach is that if less noisy aircraft were introduced this would allow more flights to be accommodated.

MPs in the House of Commons last month voted against an amendment which would have removed this clause. But the Government was challenged again when the Bill had its second reading in the Lords at the beginning of this month.

Lord Hanningfield voiced fears that because there was no such thing as a quiet aircraft virtually all flights between 4 and 6 in the morning would disturb the peace. He said that the system of averaging underestimated the level at which noise annoys people.

Lord Faulkner said that relaxing controls on numbers would allow airlines in future to argue for the removal of all restrictions on night flights. He
said: "It is the frequency of noise events that wrecks a good night's sleep and not the fact that the event itself might be slightly less noisy".

Lord Berkeley said there was a serious problem about how you measure noise.
He cited the judge's comments in the 1993 night flights judicial review which led to the current numbers limit. The judge said the quota system was 'unreal' and 'seeks to bamboozle residents into thinking that more night flights somehow equals less noise and less sleep disturbance'

Lord Bradshaw said he was worried by replacing a noise quota with a noise number. A noise quota, he said, is a subjective area of how much noise each aircraft makes whereas people could easily count the number of aircraft allowed to land at night.

Council leader Edward Lister said:

"The quality of debate in the Lords so far has been incredibly encouraging.
It is clear that Lords from all sides are only too aware of the dangers of jettisoning the protection of a numbers limit.

"Wandsworth has been working with a group of councils including Hounslow, Richmond and Windsor. If the Lords can throw out this clause it will force the Government to think again.

"We are all concerned with protecting the environment and quality of life for our residents living under the flightpath. There is a real fear that if ministers are able to get away without a numbers limit for early morning rivals the same argument could be applied to all flights at Heathrow.

"The overriding message is that every night flight can wake you up. We need an open and transparent system of controls that people can understand and trust. Playing the noise averages game is playing into the hands of the airlines who want to squeeze more flights into Heathrow without concern for the impact on the communities affected."

The second reading of the Civil Aviation Bill in the House of Lords took place on November 1. You can follow the debate on www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/pdvn/lds05/text/
51101-04.htm#51101-04_head2





                                         

November 29, 2005