Heathrow Airport is today launching a 12-week public consultation on a review of its mitigation schemes which aim to reduce the impact of aircraft noise on the community.
The mitigation schemes provide financial help towards double glazing and, for a smaller number of residents, help with sale costs for people wishing to move away from the area. Heathrow committed to reviewing the schemes as part of the Noise Action Plan, a five year plan setting out how noise will be managed at the airport. The new proposals are designed to respond more effectively to community concerns than the current versions.
Improvements over the existing set of schemes include:
- Widening the area in which people are eligible to apply for assistance
- Introducing a zoning system so that those living nearest the airport receive more funding
- Increasing the range of mitigation options available
- Providing support for an additional 7,500 properties should they wish to move away.
Colin Matthews, chief executive officer of BAA, Heathrow’s owners, said:
“Whilst Heathrow generates many social and economic benefits for the local area, aircraft noise can be disturbing for people who live or work nearby. As part of our commitment to the local community we want to make these schemes simple to understand and effective in lessening the impact of aircraft noise in areas close to the airport. We’re keen to hear views on the proposals from local people and encourage them to get in touch.”
The consultation also explains how changes brought about by the ending of the Cranford Agreement will affect residents and what Heathrow is doing to lessen these impacts. After public consultation, the previous Government decided to end the 60-year-old rule, a position confirmed by the current Government in September 2010. Ending the Agreement will provide benefits to thousands of people living near Heathrow since noise will be spread more evenly around the airport. The decision has been widely welcomed by local communities. There will be some people that will be subject to more aircraft noise, however, and the new schemes are designed to take account of this.
Currently, when the wind blows from the east, planes must take off from the southern runway and land on the northern runway. This means many locals across areas such as Windsor, Datchet, Colnbrook and North Feltham hear aircraft noise all day. The ending of the Agreement means that full runway alternation can be introduced in the same way as the current arrangement when the wind blows from the west, spreading noise more evenly around the airport.
A copy of the full consultation document and information about the public exhibitions can be found at www.heathrow.com/consultations
The exhibition will appear at the following times and locations:
Heathrow: Wed 1 June, 9am - 5pm
Heathrow Academy, Newall Road, Hounslow, Middlesex UB3 5AP
Heston: Thurs 9 June, 1pm - 8pm
Heston Community Centre, Vicarage Farm Road, Heston TW5 0EE
Colnbrook: Tues 14 June, 1pm - 8pm
Colnbrook Village Hall, Vicarage Way, Colnbrook, Slough, Buckinghamshire SL3 0RA
Datchet: Wed 15 June, 1pm - 8pm
Datchet Village Hall, 3 Allen Way, Datchet SL3 9HR
North Feltham: Wed 22 June, 1pm - 8pm
Feltham Library Room 1, High St, Feltham, Greater London TW13 4GU
Longford: Thurs 23 June, 1pm - 8pm
St Mary’s Church Hall, St Mary’s Vicarage, High Street, Harmondsworth, Middlesex UB7 0AQ
Wraysbury: Tues 28 June, 1pm - 8pm
Wraysbury Village Halls, The Green, Wraysbury, Staines TW19 5NA
Stanwell Moor: Thurs 30 June, 1pm - 8pm
Stanwell Moor Village Hall, Horton Road, Stanwell Moor, Staines, Surrey TW19 6AG
Ealing: Wed 6 July, 1pm - 8pm
Christ the Saviour Parish Church Hall, New Broadway, Ealing W5 2XA
Windsor: Tues 12 July, 1pm - 8pm
Windsor Leisure Centre, Stovell Road, Windsor SL4 5JB
Cranford: Thurs 14 July, 1pm - 8pm
Cranford Baptist Church Hall,1 Firs Drive, Cranford TW5 9TA
Heathrow: Wed 20 July, 9am - 5pm
Heathrow Academy, Newall Road, Hounslow, Middlesex UB3 5AP
The Cranford Agreement
The Cranford Agreement is a Government agreement preventing easterly take-offs from the northern runway over the village of Cranford. It was introduced in the 1950s when departure noise was considered more disruptive to residents than noise from arriving aircraft. Aircraft have to take-off and land into the wind. For about 70 per cent of the time at Heathrow, the winds are from the west. During these times, aircraft will land over London and take off towards Windsor - called westerly operations. However, when there are easterly winds, this reverses and aircraft land from the west and take-off towards London – called easterly operations. Because of the Cranford Agreement, when we are on easterly operations, aircraft usually take off from the southern runway and arrive using the northern runway.
The Cranford Agreement prevents a more equal distribution of aircraft noise around Heathrow since we are not able to use the northern runway for departures on easterly operations. As a result we have not been able to introduce a system of runway alternation when the airport is operating in this direction. This means the affected communities receive no relief from aircraft noise.
Runway alternation is when we use one runway for arrivals and one runway for departures and then switch over half way through the day. We use this system when we are on westerly operations - i.e. landing over London and taking off towards the west. More information on this can be found at www.heathrowairport.com/noise
In order to implement the Government decision to end the Cranford Agreement, we need to build new taxiways at Heathrow to enable runway alternation on easterly operations. These works require planning permission from the London Borough of Hillingdon. For a minority, there will be more aircraft noise as a result of ending the Agreement. Our proposed noise schemes are designed to ensure that residents affected benefit from the same noise mitigation as others exposed to similar noise levels.
Assuming planning permission is granted, construction will begin later in 2011. The entire process is scheduled to take around 36 months to complete.
