LADACAN
LADACAN is a residents’ group primarily concerned with the impact of Luton Airport on the surrounding communities. We believe that the Airport’s location is unsuited to its purpose and oppose further growth in air traffic. More details about LADACAN and its views can be found on other pages of our web site which can be accessed through the navigation buttons on the left.
Consultation extended to 19 June
NATS has announced that it is extending the period of consultation by 4 weeks to 19th June. We assume that this is mainly because the Company is struggling to answer the questions submitted to it - LADACAN is still waiting for answers to its questions, submitted through the Airport Consultative Committee, six weeks ago.
This extension to the time limit will be a huge benefit as it will give more time for people who will be badly affected to hear about the plans. We estimate that only 1 in 10 of those likely to find themselves under the new flight paths know about NATS’ proposals. LADACAN will continue to visit local groups who wish to understand the implications - contact us to arrange a meeting.
Councils come on board
Most local authorities and MPs are declaring their opposition to the plans for a radical shake-up of flight paths above 12 million people living in the area north of the Thames up to Lowestoft and east of Oxford to the coast. Luton Borough Council’s Executive, meeting on Monday (5 May), agreed to oppose the proposals and Council members will be meeting with NATS (National Air Traffic Services) to try to persuade it to change its plans. Members of South Beds and Bedfordshire Councils will also be meeting with NATS as will some local MPs including Margaret Moran, MP for Luton South, probably the worst affected area.
Huge shift of flight paths - 50,000 newly overflown?
The proposals by NATS (National Air Traffic Services) will mean more aircraft noise for almost everyone and a horrendous increase for many around Luton:
- All flights from the western end of the runway, 70 per cent of the total, will be diverted over the rooftops of south Luton and closer to Slip End, Caddington, Markyate and smaller villages. This will increase the number of people suffering high noise levels around the Airport from 3,000 in 2006 to 10,000 when the new routes are introduced.
- All departures to the east and south-east will be diverted over north Stevenage when the wind is in the east and over Hitchin at other times. All of these flights will pass over Buntingford and numerous vilages in that area. The villages of Whitwell and Wheathampstead will also be newly overflown by low aircraft.
- The hold point for arrivals to Luton will be moved north from around Royston to an area between Cambridge and Bedford. The consultation asks respondents to indicate whether arrivals should use a single route between the hold and the airport or whether they would prefer, as now, that aircraft are spread across the sky so that the disturbance is not concentrated on a few people. This question is especially important for those living in the villages east of Stevenage and in Leighton Buzzard and the surrounding area, particularly to the south.
NATS launched the proposals in February claiming that their new routes would reduce the number of people overflown by 20 per cent. Alarmingly, the story is very different at Luton where the real impact is a massive shift of aircraft noise from some areas to others.
Figures published by NATs in an addendum after the main consultation documents, although of questionable value, illustrate the point: these suggest that, while 18,000 people will continue to be overflown by departures from Luton as they are now, a massive 50,000 will be newly overflown.
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The figures suggest an overall reduction of over 10 per cent but we believe that this figure could be exceeded without route changes if the existing routes were made mandatory to 4,000 feet as the new routes will be. In any case, this apparent saving will be dwarfed by the population which is expected to move into new homes to be built under the new route over north Stevenage, a development some of which has been in the planning process for over 10 years.
LADACAN believes that such extensive change is both unnecessary and unfair to those who will find themselves overflown for the first time. It is also contrary to Government guidance which values stability in flight paths, especially as NATS will have to make further changes if Stansted gains permission for a second runway and Heathrow a third.
The consultation runs until 22 May and LADACAN advises everyone to vote “no”. We have some guidance to interpreting the documents and an assessment of the local impacts, and will be adding to these and publishing more detailed views over the coming weeks.
LADACAN has been speaking to various local groups in an effort to raise awareness of the plans, particularly among the very large number of people who will be badly affected. This has been made more difficult by the NATS “spin” and the very poor access to the consultation materials. Inevitably, those newly threatened by aircraft noise are not usually LADACAN members so we are facing an uphill task. If you would like LADACAN to speak to a small of large group, please contact us.
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Luton & District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise - updated 10 May, 2008
