Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce the noise nuisance from planes flying over South East London to or from (a) Heathrow and (b) London City Airport.

The Government’s airspace modernisation framework will allow the industry to deliver airspace changes that will make journeys quicker, quieter and cleaner.

The Government has secured international agreements that incentivise the development of quieter aircraft and there are several new types of aircraft now coming into service that will be significantly quieter than their predecessors.

The Government is currently consulting on a number of sustainable growth proposals within a new aviation strategy, including considering setting targets for noise reduction, and how best to monitor and report aviation noise at a national level.

In relation to Heathrow, in 2017 the Government renewed the airport’s night flight restrictions, maintaining the number of movements but significantly reducing the amount of noise an airport is allowed to make.