London Pleasure Gardens could be blighted by noise from City Airport

Posted on June 27, 2012

Airport also casts doubts over cable car’s long-term future

London’s Pleasure Gardens, due to open on Saturday, could be blighted by noise from aircraft using nearby London City Airport. That is the fear of HACAN East, which campaigns on behalf of residents living under flights paths in East London. The campaigners also claim that the airport could present problems for the new cable car across the Thames which opens to the public tomorrow. Local people continue to express fears that the cable car is too close to the airport for comfort.

HACAN East Chair John Stewart said: “The Pleasure Gardens will bring great fun to lots of people but there is a real danger a great day out will be spoilt by aircraft noise. The time has come to look again at whether City Airport is doing more harm than good to the local area.”

Local resident Alan Haughton, added, “There is no getting away from the fact that the cable car is within the airport’s crash zone. The 5,000 people who are expected to use the cable car every hour will have no idea they will be crash zone dummies testing out its effectiveness.”

HACAN East points out that the airport directly employs less than 500 people, of whom fewer than 200 come from the local borough of Newham – that’s less people than many supermarkets employ.

Stewart added: “62% of people using City Airport are on business flights. Most of them speed straight from the airport to the City, Docklands or the West End. They spent very little money locally. It is time to see how many new firms would be attracted to the area if it was not blighted by the airport.”

During the recent Mayoral elections Green Party candidate Jenny Jones, who finished third behind Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone, called for the airport to be shut down.

ENDS

Notes for editors

(1). http://www.londonpleasuregardens.com/find-us/

(2). It opens on Thursday 28th June

For further information contact:

John Stewart on 0207 7367 6641 or 07957385650

Alan Haughton on 07909 907395

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London City boss confirms airport may be sold

Posted on June 11, 2012

Declan Collier, the new boss of London City airport, has confirmed that the airport might be sold. In a wide-ranging interview with today’s Daily Telegraph (1), he said, “A sale or the introduction of new investors will be elements of what we look at."

Collier’s statement confirms rumours which have been circulating for some months that the airport will be put up for sale. The airport’s owners bought Gatwick and, in recent weeks, Edinburgh Airport from BAA. It is thought that they want to invest money in developing Gatwick.

HACAN East Chair John Stewart said, “The airport will continue to blight the local community whoever owns it. The 550 jobs it provides are outweighed by the problems it causes across wide areas of East and South East London. But we would hope that new owners will be more transparent in their dealings with local people than the current owners have been.”

ENDS

Notes for editors:

(1). The full interview can be found at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/9322616/Interview-Declan-Collier-chief-executive-of-London-City-Airport.html

For further information:

John Stewart on 0207 737 6641 or 07957385650

DID YOU KNOW

• LCY already have permission for 111,000 flights per year; up to 592 flights per weekday

• LCY have 5 noise monitors close to the airport and 1 in SE28; the only monitor south of the river. You can access these monitors to see the noise measurement an aircraft from ANY airport creates as it flies over. https://webtrak.emsbk.com/lcy

• London is the most overflown city in the world, with 6 London airports (LCY, Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, Southend). We also hear long haul planes that overfly the UK

• Home buyers can research if your home is under a concentrated flight path, which could jeopardise your house sale

• A concentrated flight path (first introduced in 2016) means all aircraft follow the same route; like a motorway. It means there is no escape if you live under it. The routes will be reviewed in 2025. If you want your views heard, keep following HACAN East

• 16 London boroughs live under the concentrated flight paths of LCY

• LCY does not communicate with all those under their flight paths when they want to make changes that affect us, so our views often go unheard

In the UK there are over 50 campaign groups against airport noise, pollution and expansion. Every major country also have campaign groups. We are not alone.

• International studies have identified how aircraft noise and pollution impacts health; sleep deprivation, stress, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, dementia, etc

• LCY is in the London Borough of Newham, who have approved all previous expansion planning applications. However, Newham Council have rejected the latest application for more early morning flights and flights till 7:30pm on a Saturday

• There are several free apps you can download to monitor all the aircraft in your area. FlightRadar24 shows you which operator, height, time, date, etc. you’ll realise that not all noisy aircraft relate to LCY

• There is a free app you can download called Explane. It measures the decibels of one aircraft overhead. It also records which operator, height, time, date, etc. you can submit the information to an international database.

• Although you may record 75-80 decibels of noise from a single aircraft, the Civil Aviation Authority allows airports to average out the sound over 16 hours (7am-11pm) so it reduces the appearance of the impact on Londoners

• LCY suggest that when new generation aircraft finally come to the airport, they will be 5 decibels quieter. Scientists have proved that the human ear will not be able to detect any decrease in noise

• Your voice can be heard at the quarterly LCY Consultative Committee attended by HACAN East

June 2012

London Pleasure Gardens could be blighted by noise from City Airport

London City boss confirms airport may be sold

HACAN East

DID YOU KNOW