LADACAN response published

After nearly 4 months of discussion, analysis, information gathering, presentations to Councils and residents groups and a Members’ Meeting, LADACAN has finally produced its response to the NATS consultation. While the main thrust of our opposition arises from the significant increase in aircraft noise which would arise from NATS plans and the imposition of noise on a huge number of people who do not presently experience it, making more constructive proposals has proved much more difficult as it is pretty well impossible to fly aircraft from Luton without overflying someone.

Consultation closes 19 June

Although extended by 4 weeks to 19 June, the National Air Traffic Services consultation on proposed flightpath changes in Terminal Control North has only a few more days to run. It appears that the Company continues to struggle to answer the questions submitted to it - LADACAN has partial answers to its questions which were submitted through the Airport Consultative Committee in March and we received a reply to our letter of 1 May on 5 June. Our final presentation will be to the Old Town Area Committee of Stevenage Borough Council on 18 June - see their web site for details.

This extension to the time limit has been a huge benefit as it has given more time for people who will be badly affected to hear about the plans. It remains true that only a minority of those likely to find themselves under the new flight paths know about NATS’ proposals. LADACAN is still visiting 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 have met with NATS (National Air Traffic Services) to try to persuade it to change its plans. Members of South Beds and Bedfordshire Councils have also met with NATS as have some local MPs including Margaret Moran, MP for Luton South, probably the worst affected area.

A change of heart?

At these recent meetings, MPs and Councillors have been told that it is possible for aircraft to fly “hybrid” routes which do not use the Precision Area Navigation (P-RNAV) technology for the early parts of the routes, particularly the westerly departures (see first bullet below). This directly contradicts the answer LADACAN received from NATS to its question: “Guidance from the CAA is that new routes should be designed to utilise P-RNAV technology. In designing such routes, NATS must comply with international safety standards for the design of P-RNAV routes, which do not apply to the existing routes. These safety standards dictate the position at which an aircraft may start its first turn following take-off on a P-RNAV route. For Luton Westerly departures this position is further from the runway than today and it is therefore not possible to replicate the current departure route with an equivalent P-RNAV route.”

LADACAN believes that such routes should be supported by respondents to the consultation as they are likely to reduce the extent of the changes around Luton (see “A huge shift . . . “ below). We understand that NATS is happy for those who have already responded to submit a further response although a second response online may not be possible - please let us know if you achieve this.

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 villages 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.

For more details and information about other locations, see our guide.

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, a population equivalent to 66% of those currently overflown. By contrast, the equivalent changes around Stansted and Heathrow will only be 5% and 4% respectively.

All but one of the five departure route changes at Luton will result in an increase in the number of people overflown.

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.

All routes are worse

Our analysis of more detailed figures for the changes at Luton shows that, on all five routes which NATS are seeking to change at Luton, the number of people overflown in the first ten miles will increase. Overall, the number will more than double.

The consultation now runs until 19 June 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 or large group, please contact us.

 

Page archived 20 June 2008- no further updates

Luton & District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise - site updated 22 August, 2008