Luton and District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise

Night noise at Luton

In contrast with the main airports in the south east of England and a number of major airports in Europe, no controls are imposed on night flying at Luton. Heathrow, for example, has no scheduled departures between 23:30 and 06:00, an indirect result of controls imposed by Government.

Luton Airport’s voluntary Night Noise Policy comprises only measures which are calculated to prevent a massive worsening of the noise disturbance currently suffered by local residents but which barely affect current operations.

The controls on average night noise (23:00 to 07:00) imposed by the 1997 planning permission will not be triggered unless the hourly number of flights at night reaches 80 per cent of the daytime rate, an intolerable situation and, in effect, no limit at all.

The key problem at Luton

The fundamental problem with Luton Airport is that it is located very close to south Luton. At night, this means that a large number of people experience high levels of aircraft noise which are likely to interrupt or disturb their sleep.

Based on a wide range of scientific studies, the 2009 World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for night noise propose that, to protect the public, outside noise should not exceed 40 dBA Lnight. This is a very demanding target so the WHO recommends that governments mandate a limit of 55 dBA Lnight as an Interim Target while planning to meet the more demanding Protection Level. Much of the research which underlies the WHO guidelines indicated that the number of noise events is a key determinant of sleep disturbance. The recommendations are based on an assumption that there are 8 noise events each night. Other research findings suggest that a doubling of the number of events is equivalent to an increase of 10 dBA Lnight so, at very busy airports, the limits should be lower.

Night Noise Controls

LADACAN believes that urgent action is needed to curb night noise around the Airport principally to protect the large population in south Luton which is subject to very high noise levels. This action must be based initially on achieving the WHO Interim Target.