West London Friends of the Earth Press Release
West London Friends of the Earth has called the government's proposals
for night flights at Heathrow as "scandalous". Nic Ferriday,
spokesperson for West London Friends of the Earth, said "Night noise
from Heathrow is already a big problem, disturbing the sleep of
thousands of people in West London and beyond. The government should be
looking to reduce the problem. Instead, they are planning to make it
worse by increasing the number of night flights. This is nothing short
of scandalous." [Note 1]
As well as a limit on the number of flights, there is also a 'noise
quota'. This is a limit on the total noise from all the night flights,
calculated by summing the 'quota counts' for each of the aircraft types
that fly at night. The noise quota will be reduced by about 1% in winter
and 9% in summer. But Nic Ferriday said "The reductions in the noise
quota are no compensation for the extra flights. It is the number of
noisy planes passing that affects sleep. The noise quota is a
theoretical value that does not relate to perceived noise or nuisance.
[Note 2] The noise quota is used misleadingly by the government to try
and show that noise nuisance is decreasing when it could, in fact, be
increasing."
Friends of the Earth is also concerned the government is making spurious
claims about the importance of night flights to the economy. Nic
Ferriday concluded "No real evidence of the economic benefits of night
flights has been shown. But the government is still desperately
searching for some in order to justify its continuation and increase of
night flights."
END
Contact: Nic Ferriday 020 8357 8426, mob 07851 196906.
1. The government proposes to increase the allowed number of night
flights in the winter season from the present figure of 2,550 up to 2820
by 2011-12. This is an increase of over 10%. The increase in the
summer period is from 3,250 now to 3,600 in 2011-12, also an increase of
over 10%.
2. The noise quota is an artificial construct based on noise energy
summed over the whole night period. However, noise energy is not
directly related to perceived noise or to noise nuisance. Therefore, it
is quite possible for there to be an increase in noise nuisance while
the quota count remains steady or even reduces.
3. For more on the night flights issue and West London Friends of the
Earth response, see www.wlfoet5.demon.co.uk/heathrow/noise/nightconsult.
htm