Petitions
Mrs Caroline Spelman (Meriden) (Con)
I present a petition on behalf of my constituents regarding the proposed flight path changes at Birmingham airport in my constituency, which has been signed by more than 2,000 residents in the community at the southerly end of the runway. When a planning application was submitted in 2008—[Interruption.]
Madam Deputy Speaker (Mrs Eleanor Laing)
Order. I am sorry to interrupt the right hon. Lady, but will hon. Members who are leaving please do so swiftly and quietly? There is business going on in the Chamber.
Mrs Spelman
When a planning application was submitted in 2008 for a runway extension, it was not clear to me, local councillors or residents that it might require a flight path change. Otherwise, opposition would have been greater. Aircraft are finding it impossible to stick to the route that was consulted on, and we urge the Transport Secretary to intervene and find a better solution for the community.
Following is the full text of the petition:
[The Humble Petition of Communities Affected by the Proposed Airspace Changes at Birmingham Airport Limited.
Sheweth,
That we wish to bring to the attention of the Secretary of State that local communities in the vicinity of Birmingham Airport Runway 15 have been significantly affected by the noise and disturbance of aircraft flying departure routes established by Birmingham Airport Ltd (BAL) as part of their air space change proposal. BAL is conducting trial flights in relation to their preferred route options as submitted to the CAA (Options 5 & 6 of BAL’s proposal). During the public consultation process the community raised significant concerns about the loss of the existing Noise Preferential Route, and accurately predicted a significant increase in noise disturbance. Members of the community made detailed submissions to BAL highlighting how a departure that included a turn at altitude could closely replicate the existing Noise Preferential Route and accommodate the extended runway. This is an option that gained a great deal of community support but was rejected by BAL without any meaningful qualification. Additionally the CAA has confirmed that two of the departure routes from Runway 15 are not producing the intended flight paths. We should also like to bring to the Secretary of State’s attention that BAL has no mechanism for gathering community feedback on the trial routes being flown. Given that a technically valid alternative exists, which would substantially accommodate the noise preferential routing, but was not included in BAL’s submission to the CAA, we have no other recourse but to submit this petition to The Honourable House of Commons.
Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your Honourable House urgently review the proposed flight path changes at Birmingham Airport in view of the sharp increase in noise nuisance to the communities living at the southerly end of the extended runway and the failure of the trial to ensure aircrafts follow the new flight path options accurately and to explore an alternative option which was previously submitted to BAL by the community itself and which would substantially minimise noise nuisance.
And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c.]
[P001370]
Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South) (Lab)
I present a petition on behalf of the residents of Clywd South concerning the sentence of Dennis Igo.
The petition states:
The Petition of residents of Clwyd South,
Declares that the Petitioners believe that the two year suspended sentence and three hundred hours of community service handed down to Dennis Igo was far too low; further that Mr Igo possessed more than 250,000 indecent images of children; further that the Petitioners believe that Mr Igo used his wife’s illness as an excuse for his behaviour; further that the Petitioners believe that Mr Igo’s wife’s illness should not have been used as a mitigating factor; further that the Petitioners believe that the low sentence handed down to Mr Igo sends the wrong message to other people committing similar offences; and further that a local Petition on this subject has received over 100 signatures.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons requests that the Attorney General review the sentence given to Dennis Igo.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.
[P001371]
Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)
I present a petition on behalf of residents of Lightwood in Stoke-on-Trent and those in the wider area. I have a small bundle in front of me, but the petition has many hundreds of signatures, with David Evans being the first named petitioner.
The petition states:
The Petition of residents of Lightwood, in Stoke on Trent,
Declares that the Petitioners are deeply concerned by proposals for a residential development on land off Lightwood Road, which the Petitioners believe the infrastructure of the local area cannot support and would destroy a large area of green-belt land, despite more appropriate areas of land being available in the city.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Department for Communities and Local Government to intervene in this matter at an early stage to ensure a more suitable site is found for any development and any application submitted for a development on this particular piece of land is rejected.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.
[P001372]