Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what account the Government's forthcoming review of the night noise regulations for Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports will take of the WHO Europe's recommendation that noise at night should not exceed 40 dB Leq.

The WHO’s 2009 Night Noise Guidelines for Europe do not refer solely to noise from aviation, but are based on the Lnight,outside indicator which measures the average noise that individuals are exposed to over all nights of a year – including from all transport sources and non transport sources such as industry and the neighbourhood.

One of the environmental objectives of the current night flight restrictions is to limit and where possible reduce the number of people significantly affected by aircraft noise at night. This is based on the measure of the area and number of people within the 6.5 hour night quota period contours, and in particular the 55dB LAeq contour. This is the threshold also used in the WHO Night Noise Guidelines for Europe. This is also consistent with the Government’s overall policy on aviation noise to avoid significant adverse impacts.

The Government’s proposals for the night flight restrictions from October 2017 will continue to take account of the latest evidence on the health impacts of night flights.