A focus on noise
9th December, 2011
Much of our work in the past fortnight has focussed on noise. Cait met with part of Defra’s noise team, and with Executive Council member Julia Welchman to visit the sites of some schools that are heavily affected by aircraft noise. AEF is conducting a pilot project called Soundscape, which provides respite for children at schools under the Heathrow flight path by allowing them to access outdoor learning in a natural environment which is nearby but not overflown.
The Soundscape project was also the subject for this year’s guest presentation at AEF’s AGM, which took place on 1st December and provided our members with the opportunity to hear about our work and to elect members of our Executive Counci for the coming year.
We have also, in the past two weeks, responded to an airport’s request for noise guidance, and given a radio interview for BBC Surrey, which was covering the publication of Gatwick Airport’s master plan, which had revealed plans to increase both air traffic and noise in future.
Tim provided an NGO perspective on sustainable aviation at Manchester Metropolitan University’s short course on airports and the environment and, in relation to a project that AEF is supporting to develop airline environmental performance rankings, accompanied a colleague from ICCT in the USA on a series of visits to gather the views of UK business travel consultants, academics, regulators and airlines.