Night flights consultation

2nd August, 2005

The government launched its 2nd stage night flights consultation in June 2005 with a deadline for responses of 16 Sep. The government is now considering the responses.

The Government launched its 2nd stage night flights consultation in June 2005. It is called ‘Night Flying Restrictions at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted’.

At these airports there are limits on the number of night movements. There is also a total ‘noise quota’ which represents the total noise at night expressed as a sum of the ‘noise count’ for each aircraft that flies at night.

The consultation document may be found at the DfT web site.

At Heathrow, the government proposes to raise the allowed movements by about 10%. The noise quota will be reduced by 9% in summer and 1% in winter. The increase in movements means that there could well be an increase in noise nuisance.

At Gatwick the movements limit and noise quota will be reduced, although the reduction only represents a removal of the ‘headroom’ – the currently unused portion of the quota – and will not lead to an actual reduction in night flights.

At Stansted the movements limit will stay the same and the noise quota will be reduced slightly.

More on the consultation and views on it may be found on the campaign groups’ web sites:

Heathrow: HACAN www.hacan.org.uk
Heathrow: Friends of the Earth www.westlondonfoe.org.uk (Stage 2 response is on line.)
Gatwick: GACC www.gacc.org.uk (go to ‘latest news’.) (Stage 2 response is on line.)
Stansted: SSE www.stopstanstedexpansion.com (go to /night_flights.html)

There are no limits on night flights at other airports. This is an issue which greatly concerns the AEF and many local groups.

Responses to the consultation are needed by 16 Sep 05. They should be sent to nr-stagetwo@dft.gsi.gov.uk and should also be copied to your local campaign group.