Heathrow noise report is inconvenient truth
by Hammersmith and Fulham Press Office
07/11/2007
Councillors have called for a parliamentary investigation after the government disowned its own six year study of residents’ attitudes to aircraft noise.
The research was ordered by former transport minister Bob Ainsworth in 2001. He said at the time that the findings would 'underpin' government policy on aircraft noise.
The report, which was finally published last week following pressure by the 2M group of local authorities, updates work last conducted in 1985. It shows that people become significantly annoyed at an average noise level of 50 decibels – compared to 57 decibels previously.
The report's timing is crucial because the government is about to launch its campaign for a third runway at Heathrow. This can only go ahead if ministers are able to show that the expansion will not result in breaches to EU air quality limits and that there will be no increased exposure to noise in the area around the airport.
The area affected by the 57 decibel marker runs from Windsor to Barnes – a population of 258,000. But if the line is drawn at 50 decibels this takes in a much larger area running from Slough and Maidenhead to Clapham Common and Battersea. The area covers more than 2 million people including Hammersmith & Fulham residents.
But 'health warnings' attached to the report reveal that the government has no intention of allowing its findings to affect airports policy. Instead the Chief Economist concludes that while it is 'highly probable' that people's annoyance levels have increased since the early 1980s the study still needs 'further work'. Transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick said, "It does not give us the robust figures on which it would be safe to change policy."
Councillor Nicholas Botterill, H&F Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment, says, “This report is an inconvenient truth for the government. They did not want it published in advance of the third runway announcement. It was only the pressure from local councils that forced their hand. We can see that ministers are desperate to rubbish their own study. This has taken six years of work and involved teams of international experts handpicked by the government. It must have cost at least £1 million of taxpayers' money yet still they say the findings are not robust.”
The government has said it will publish the latest expansion plans at the end of December. The current annual movements limit at the airport is 480,000. If both runway alternation were ended and a third runway built the number of flights each year at Heathrow could rise to around 800,000. This is equivalent to building a new airport the size of Gatwick.
Sign up to stop uncontrolled Heathrow expansion by clicking on: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stopheathrowexpansion/?e (opens new window).
