Heathrow Airport: Noise

(asked on 6th June 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to conduct an optimism bias assessment on public sensitivity to aviation noise in communities that are likely to be affected by expansion at Heathrow.


Answered by
Michael Ellis Portrait
Michael Ellis
This question was answered on 14th June 2019

The Department for Transport guidance sets out how we should consider optimism bias when appraising transport schemes. In the case of Heathrow expansion, we estimated noise impacts using a central demand scenario in order to provide estimates consistent with the rest of the appraisal. In order to test worse case impacts, a higher demand scenario was used in the revised Appraisal of Sustainability (AoS).

The 2014 Survey of Noise Attitudes (SoNA) recognises that attitudes towards aviation noise are changing. The work carried out during the SoNA study shows that sensitivity to aircraft noise has increased, with the same percentage of people being highly annoyed at lower levels of noise than in a past study. As a result, the Government has introduced new metrics and appraisal guidance to assess noise impacts and their impacts on health and quality of life. This will ensure that the noise impacts of proposed airspace changes are considered much further away from airports than at present.

The Independent Commission on Civil Aviation Noise (ICCAN) began work earlier this year, and will focus on developing best practice guidance in aviation noise management.

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