Luton and District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise
Risk to people on the ground
Public Safety Zones (PSZs)
Aircraft accidents are, thankfully, a rarity but they do happen and the areas close to the ends of airport runways are particularly vulnerable. In the late 1990s, the Government commissioned studies of the risk to people on the ground near airports with the aim of providing guidance to local councils faced with applications for building within these risk zones. This guidance was first published in 2002 and updated in March 2010 as Department for Transport Circular 1/2010 when administration of the supporting process was passed to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The Circular states that “The basic policy objective governing the restriction on development near civil airports is that there should be no increase in the number of people living, working or congregating in Public Safety Zones and that, over time, the number should be reduced as circumstances allow.”
The guidance to planning authorities defines Public Safety Zones (PSZs) at the runway ends within which Councils are expected to limit the grant of planning permission. The PSZs approximate to tall triangles stretching over the ground under the approaches to the runways with their bases on the runway ends. The main PSZ represents the area within which a person on the ground is exposed to a risk of death or serious injury which exceeds 1 in 100,000 every year. The Government regards this level of risk as unacceptable but assesses the cost of removing the risk (eg by relocating a resident and knocking his or her house down) as uneconomic when weighed against the value of an individual life. Within this PSZ, planning applications for development which would increase the average level of occupancy of the land should be refused.
Luton’s PSZs
At Luton, the western 1 in 100,000 PSZ stretches across Stockwood Park to the M1 and includes a number of homes in Cutenhoe Road and London Road. To the east, the PSZ reaches Breachwood Green. The areas of the PSZ’s falling within their Districts should be shown on the proposals maps accompanying the Local Plans of Luton Borough Council, South Beds District Council and North Herts District Council but, as only Luton has published its PSZs, we show them diagrammatically here.
Note that our maps do not show the new access road to the Airport.
High Risk Zones
Of more concern at Luton is the inner PSZ, the smaller triangular area shown in our diagrams, within which the risk of death or serious injury exceeds 1 in 10,000 each year. At the eastern end of the runway this PSZ is only crossed by a minor road but to the west the recently upgraded main route to east Luton and the Airport, the A505/A1081 Airport Way, passes beneath the flight path within 400 metres of the runway. Within this zone, the Government regards the level of risk to be so great that all land uses involving high levels of occupancy must be removed at the Airport's expense. Only uses such as long-term parking and unmanned equipment are permitted in this area.
See: High Risk on Airport Way.
More flights will raise the risk
The Government guidance, like the equivalent for aircraft noise, is intended to guide planning decisions for locations outside the airport fence. It is a simplified approach which should not be applied to airport development which would increase air traffic and, hence, the risk to people on the ground. It is expected that any planning application for airport development which could increase air traffic would include a thorough assessment of the increase in risk which would result.