Heathrow Airport: Noise

(asked on 9th November 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of people who live in the 45Lden noise contour around Heathrow airport.


Answered by
Jesse Norman Portrait
Jesse Norman
This question was answered on 19th November 2018

The Appraisal of Sustainability that accompanies the Airports National Policy Statement (NPS) provides a strategic level assessment of the potential social, economic, and environmental impacts of expansion, including on noise. The Appraisal of Sustainability makes it clear that for the purposes of this strategic level assessment, it would not be suitable to produce noise contours and therefore estimate numbers of people affected below 54dB LAeq, 16 hour for the daytime or 48 dB LAeq, 8 hours for the night time. This is because variability in aircraft position in the air at these greater distances from the airport, and airport noise being closer to background noise levels, result in a lower level of certainty.

The Airports NPS sets out specific mitigations for aircraft noise that the Government expects to see delivered. These include the applicant putting forward plans for a noise envelope which is tailored to local priorities and includes noise performance targets. The applicant will also need to develop plans for a runway alternation scheme that provides communities affected with predictable periods of respite. The Government also expects a ban on scheduled night flights for a period of six and a half hours.

These supporting measures will be finalised through the planning process and subject to public consultation. These will then be considered by the Planning Inspectorate and the Secretary of State in determining an application for development consent.

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