SASIG: Wrong climate for aviation policy change

Friday, 5 May 2006 12:00 AM

The Government is currently seeking to make amendments to the Civil Aviation Act (1982) which would leave communities around airports exposed to even greater levels of aircraft noise than at present. The issue will be debated in the House of Commons on Monday 8 May.

Chairman of SASIG, Councillor Richard Worrall commented "The Government should stop being secretive over the reason for seeking to change the controls over night flights and start listening to the public who are being deafened".

The 1982 Act includes provision for noise from aircraft to be controlled by restricting both the number of take-offs and landings - the movements limit - and a noise quota which sets an upper limit on the permissible cumulative noise burden. The noise quota is a crude method of control in that each aircraft type is measured under test conditions which do not reflect the actual noise levels experienced. However, the movement limit relates directly to the noise burden experienced by communities around airports as every individual flight has an impact. There is no such thing as a quiet aircraft.

Now is not the time for the Government to be rewriting aviation policy. Results from the Government-commissioned study into attitudes to noise from aviation sources are expected later this year. These results should be used to inform future policy so why are the Government rushing through policy changes now?

A full public debate on whether night flights have any economic benefits for the UK has not yet - and presumably never will - take place. The Government spent a year trying to get this information and will now not make it available. It now seems intent on changing the 1982 Act without sharing the economic justification. Why?

Local authorities spent years fighting to achieve the movements limit as a method of control and are now fighting to save it. The House of Lords supported the call to retain the reference to movements limits in the 1982 Act, however the House of Commons announced today that they will remove this element of the Act. The minor concession that the House of Commons has offered is retention of movements limits on night flights until 2012, but such a "suspended sentence" is going to be little comfort to local residents. A permanent control over the number of take-off and landings is the comfort residents' need.

ENDS

5 May 2006

NOTE TO EDITORS

SASIG has a broad national membership of local authorities but does not speak on behalf of the Local Government Association as a whole.

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