The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approved the proposed changes to the arrival flightpaths of aircraft approaching Luton. The new Airspace Deployment AD6 of flightpaths took effect in February this year. Many rural South Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire villages have since been disturbed by significant levels of aircraft noise. The Council Leader wrote to the CAA on this issue in response to reports from residents.
Reasons for the letter to CAA
Following the first residents meeting that took place on 5th July at Little Gransden Village Hall, I gave a report to Cllr Smith. We discussed the significant concerns expressed by many of the attendees and how we could raise this matter with the relevant authorities.
The Leader as a first step wrote this letter to the CAA to ask for clarification on the AD6 change..
As you see from the letter, she reminds the CAA that South Cambs District Council’s consultation response concluded that the Council was not re-assured the proposals would not be harmful to the amenity of South Cambridgeshire residents in the vicinity of the new flightpaths.
Reply from the CAA
The CAA Communications Department sent a reply to Cllr Smith by email a week later, and copied me into the communications. At least it shows they took note that Cllr Smith included me in her letter to them.
As you see, the reply merely explains the process that the change sponsors LLA and NATS used to get the permission. So nothing new there. And to add insult to injury, the CAA representative Richard Taylor refers members of the public to read that process at pages 239 – 247 of the Airspace Change document.
Furthermore, the reply directs us to visit the Airspace Change Portal to see all the 78 documents associated with the AD6 airspace change. This includes the decision statement CAP 2288, which I reproduce here.
This statement has a supporting Decision Document that gives the full reasons for the airspace change decision in 24 pages.
If you are short on time, then you can read the short form of the Decision Document here. It is a single page that refers to the full document. This is getting to be a circular reading exercise.
What do we make of the CAA reply?
As I’ve written in a previous post, the AD6 change is now in the Post Implementation Review (PIR) phase. This period is from 1 June 2022 and ends on 31 May 2023. LLA and NATS will be collecting real flight performance data to present to the CAA. The objective is to assess whether the objectives for making the changes are being achieved.
Be aware that Richard Taylor states that aircraft noise is not a statutory nuisance in the UK, and it is specifically excluded from the Environment Act. I highlight this so that communities that are now bearing the brunt of the changes should take note of in deciding the best way to respond.
He expresses some sympathy for the “disturbance”, he was at pains to point out that the CAA is working hard to encourage the aviation industry to reduce its environmental impact. Also that aircraft are much quieter than they were just 10 years ago, and the noisiest aircraft are banned from many UK airports. I am not sure how that helps this current disturbance by the AD6 change.
Mr Taylor also makes reference to the Luton Airport webpage about noise-related material and how to make enquiries or complaint. Looking at it, I can see that it talks about noise insulation scheme where eligible properties are considered of insulation every year. It explains what causes noise from aircraft and how it’s measured. The most relevant reference for this ongoing AD6 issue is on the Noise Enquiries link. That shows how to use the TraVis system to monitor aircraft noise and to make an enquiry or complaint.
Finally he gives a link to the CAA webpage that explains how the authority manages aviation noise. It is a large 85-page document that may be good bedtime reading. Joking aside, it is interesting to see the first line in Chapter 2 that states “Aviation noise negatively affects more people in the UK than any
other country in Europe”. Alarmingly, it also states as fact that “Heathrow’s noise footprint in terms of population affected at the European standard measure is larger than the next five European airports added together”. One has to wonder why that is the case and gives concern as Luton Airport is now going through a Development Consent Order process to expand.
Conclusion
So where does this leave communities experiencing the disturbance from the AD6 change? My advice is to keep a record of or log the dates, times and effect of the noise disturbance. Then send on to Luton Airport on a regular basis during this post-implementation period that ends on 31 May 2023.
