City Airport confirm they will attend flight paths Public Meeting
Posted on October 31, 2014
London City Airport have confirmed they will attend the Public Meeting on their plans to change flight paths being staged by HACAN East on Monday 3rd November at 7.30pm in Wanstead Library. The meeting is being held because City has refused to hold their own public meetings or inform residents directly who will be living under the proposed concentrated flight paths. Leading members of the Greater London Assembly Roger Evans and Murad Qureshi will also speak at the meeting alongside HACAN East chair John Stewart. There will be a lot of time for questions and discussion.
Meanwhile today the story hit the front page of the South London Press under the banner headline Plane Wrong. It outlined the impact of the proposed changes on Sooth London: SLP flight paths.
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Leading GLA members to speak at City Airport Flight Paths Meeting on 3rd November
Posted on October 27, 2014
Press Release
27/10/14 for immediate use
Leading GLA members to speak at City Airport Flight Paths Meeting on 3rd November
Greater London Assembly members Roger Evans and Murad Qureshi will be speaking at a public meeting on Monday 3rd November called by residents’ group HACAN East to protest at the new flight paths London City Airport propose to introduce (1). Airport representatives will also be at the meeting to answer questions.
London City is planning to concentrate the flights paths in and out of the airport but has refused to leaflet or hold public meetings in the areas affected. It has simply put technical information on its website. Amongst the areas worst affected would be Bow, Leyton, Leytonstone, Wanstead and parts of Havering and Dagenham. South of the river Eltham, Catford, Dulwich, Brixton, Stockwell and Vauxhall are in the line of fire.
HACAN East chair John Stewart said, “There has been a lot of interest in the meeting. People are furious that they have not been told about the changes. As well as local residents, a number of councillors, some from as far afield as Brixton, are coming to the meeting.”
Stewart added, “The airport is saying that the changes are not significant. We disagree. They will be very significant for people right under the flights paths who will get a plane overhead every 90 seconds at the busiest times of the day. We asked London City if they would organize public meetings in the affected areas but they refused to do so. That is why we are holding this meeting”.
The flight path changes are part of a wider programme of reorganizing airspace across Europe. More efficient use of airspace will allow airlines to journey times and so reduce fuel bills and cut emissions.
ENDS
For more information:
(1). The meeting will take place on Monday 3rd November 7.30pm in Wanstead Library Spratt Hall Road, Wanstead, London, E11 2RQ
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Petition to stop concentration of flight paths; Public Meeting
Posted on October 17, 2014
Sign the petition calling on City Airport to stop plans to concentrate planes over a narrow corridor of East London http://www.change.org/p/city-airport-stop-the-current-proposal-to-concentrate-departures-from-city-airport-over-a-narrow-corridor-of-east-london-bow-hackney-wick-leyton-midland-road-leytonstone-wanstead-barkingside-colliers-row?recruiter=9107754&utm_campaign=twitter_link_action_box&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=share_petition …
PUBLIC MEETING
City Airport’s plans to change its flight paths
Monday 3rd November
7.30pm
Wanstead Library
Spratt Hall Road, Wanstead, London, E11 2RQ
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PUBLIC MEETING
City Airport’s plans to change its flight paths
Monday 3rd November
7.30pm
Wanstead Library
Spratt Hall Road, Wanstead, London, E11 2RQ
Buses: 66, 101, 145, 308, W13, W14 all within a short walking distance
About 5 minutes walk from Wanstead Underground Station
The plan to concentrate the flight paths will have a real impact on places like Bow, Leytonstone, Wanstead and beyond into Redbridge and parts of Havering. Below is a map from the airport’s consultation document.
London City Airport are consulting on changes they propose to make to flight paths. They intend to concentrate all the flights over particular areas. This would have a profound impact on these communities. Yet few people have been told about the planned changes.
We asked London City if they would organize public meetings in the affected areas but they refused to do so. We, therefore, have organized a meeting on the issue to which we invite you.
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A letter of objection you can email to City Airport re: its plans to concentrate flight paths
Posted on October 11, 2014
London City Airport is planning to concentrate its flight paths over certain areas. But it is not telling anybody. The areas particularly in the line of fire are Bow, Leytonstone, Wanstead, Colliers Row, Dagenham, Hornchurch, Catford, Dulwich, Brixton, Stockwell and Vauxhall. It is deeply inequitable.
Here is a letter you can email to the airport: lamp@londoncityairport.com. Feel free to adapt it as you wish and to encourage others to also email in.
I strongly object to the way you intend to concentrate the flight paths in and out of London City Airport over particular areas. It is creating noise ghettos and is deeply unfair.
I also object to the fact that you are refusing to tell directly the communities that will be affected what is in store for them. You are holding no public meeting and are doing no leafleting. Most people don’t even know what is on your website.
If you want to read the full consultation, it is athttp://www.londoncityairport.com/londonairspacemanagement. It started on 4th September and runs until 27th November 2014.
For more detail, read HACAN’s open letter to the airport – http://www.hacaneast.org.uk/?p=493 – and our blog: http://www.hacaneast.org.uk/?p=491
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Open letter to London City Airport
Posted on October 11, 2014
11th October 2014
Dear London City,
Your flight path proposals will have a profound effect – for the worse – on the lives of tens of thousands of Londoners…..and you are simply not telling them. You are planning to concentrate the planes using the airport on narrow corridors, meaning that the unlucky communities will suffer all the noise.
It is deeply inequitable. It reminds me what has happened on the roads. These days traffic noise these is largely a main road problem. This is because, over the years, it has been diverted from ‘residential’ roads on to main roads. It has been concentrated on these main roads.
I wrote in my book Why Noise Matters, published by Earthscan in 2011, “The policy in the UK, and in many other European countries, has been to direct through-traffic away from so-called ‘residential’ roads on to ‘main’ roads. I would suggest this is deeply inequitable, made more so by the fact that it is the people living on main roads who are less likely to own and drive cars or be able to move away. They are victims of other people’s noise.”
And now you are proposing to do the same with your planes. I know you are arguing that the changes are not significant because the planned flight paths are not noticeably different from the current routes. Tell that to Bow, Leytonstone, Wansted, Catford, Brixton and Vauxhall! And the other areas that will be under the concentrated flight paths.
Of course, we know you are not going to tell them anything. You’ve said to us you will not be holding public meetings, or even leafleting the areas. Your current consultation brings a whole new meaning to the word ‘minimalist’. You have informed your consultative committee (which you must know is widely seen as one of the weakest and least responsive in the country). And have put your plans on your website: http://www.londoncityairport.com/content/pdf/LCY-LAMP-Consultation-Document.pdf. But is thought they you may not even have informed some of the local authorities affected about the proposals.
Now I suspect I know what you are thinking: HACAN is ‘anti-airport’ and is simply jumping on these proposed flight path changes to have a go at the airport. But that is to miss the point: the issue here is much deeper than what anybody thinks about the airport. It is about fairness, equity, treating people properly; concepts that existed long before you began your short life just over 25 years ago.
You are badly failing the fairness test. You may also be acting contrary to government policy which suggests airports seek to give respite to communities which are overflown.
I suspect you will argue that your minimalist consultation is doing all that the Civil Aviation Authority, which is overseeing the process, requires you to do. We’ve already raised this with the CAA and will do so again unless you start informing people what’s in store for them. I urge you to do so.
John Stewart
Chair HACAN East
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London City wouldn’t get away with this in Ascot
Posted on October 8, 2014
Press Release
8/10/14 for immediate use
London City wouldn’t get away with it in Ascot
London City Airport has refused to hold public meetings to inform people of the changes it is proposing to its flight paths in its current consultation. It confirmed to the campaign group HACAN East that it did not intend to hold any meetings.
The Airport is proposing to concentrate aircraft using the airport into much narrower corridors than they use at present (1). Residents in those areas have not been informed of what is planned. There has been no door-to-door leafleting. Areas in the firing line include Bow, Leytonstone, Wanstead, Dagenham and Hornchurch north of the river. In South London Catford, Dulwich, Brixton, Stockwell and Vauxhall look like being the worst affected.
John Stewart, who chairs HACAN East, said, “There have been big protests recently in villages around Gatwick and in the Home County towns of Ascot and Sunningdale about new flight paths that Gatwick and Heathrow airports have been trialling. But at least they were only experiments and, in their final plans, both airports are committed to give their residents some respite from the noise. City Airport, by contrast, is concentrating all its flights over particular areas. And, to rub salt into the wounds, are not telling residents what’s in store for them. London City wouldn’t get away with this in Ascot.”
Stewart added, “London City is being disingenuous when it argues that the routes are not changes significantly. They most certainly are for the people who will get all the planes.”
The consultation started on the 4th September and end on the 27th November.
ENDS
Notes for editors:
(1). The key consultation document is http://www.londoncityairport.com/content/pdf/LCY-LAMP-Consultation-Document.pdf . The maps are indistinct but the main ones to look at are on:
Page 22. which shows how places like Bow, Leytonstone, Wansted and Colliers Row would be impacted by take-offs on the days the west wind blows (about 75% of the time in a typical year)
Page 23 which shows how places like Dagenham and Hornchurch would be affected by take-offs when an east wind is blowing
Page 33 which shows how places like Catford, Dulwich, Brixton, Stockwell and Vauxhall will be affected by landings during an east wind
For further information:
John Stewart on 0207 737 6641 or 07957385650