Oral Answers to Questions

Michelle Thomson Excerpts

Thursday 30th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Michelle Thomson (Edinburgh West) (Ind)]

5. What steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) regulate night flights at regional airports.

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Chris Grayling)]

The Government set noise night flight restrictions only at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. We believe that noise is usually best managed locally, so we do not monitor the number of night flights outside those three airports. At Scottish airports, the powers to set night flight restrictions and other noise controls are of course devolved, and therefore lie with Scottish Ministers.

[Michelle Thomson]

I thank the Secretary of State for his answer. I acknowledge that the night flight proposals extend only to the three London airports, but given the anticipated growth in night flights generally, does that not seem rather short-sighted? We want such growth in airports because of the gross value added that that brings, but we have to recognise the rights of constituents everywhere, including those in Scotland.

[Chris Grayling]

This is clearly a live issue for people living around airports. The airspace modernisation programme will provide additional tools to improve things. I assume the hon. Lady is not asking me to take back powers from the Scottish Government to regulate night flights at Scotland’s airports; were she doing so, she would have to talk to her colleagues in Edinburgh.