Londoners Complain About Noise Pollution From City Airport
Joe Cortez January 27, 2017
South London residents complain their neighborhood is a “noise ghetto” due to flight paths.
A group living in South London are having their voices heard over flight paths at London City Airport (LCY), claiming the new efficient flight paths are creating more noise pollution over their neighborhoods. Britain’s Evening Standard reports changes to the routing has created a substandard quality of lives in their neighborhoods.
The new flight routes were created by area navigation systems, augmenting the current air traffic control practices in the area. Under the program, aircraft follow more streamlined routes for takeoff and landing, resulting in the reduction of fuel usage. However, those who live under the flight paths say that there’s another, unintended result of the new protocols: noise pollution.
London residents living in at least seven areas of the city, including the worst affected neighborhoods of Bow, Leytonstone, Wanstead and Redbridge, claim the flights have created an unwanted burden of noise over their homes. In Leytonstone alone, residents claim the number of annual flights overhead have increased to 60,000, an increase of 50 percent compared to 2015. Some claim over 2,000 flights per day pass overhead.
“The intensity of the flights, often at a very low level, has made the level of noise experienced by residents pretty intolerable,” London assembly member Len Duvall, representing two of the affected neighborhoods, told the Evening Standard. “We are asking that the airport rethink the concentrated flight paths along with the Civil Aviation Authority.”
A spokesperson for the British Civil Aviation Authority told the newspaper that a review was pending. If the review reveals the flights are a nuisance, ”the most appropriate course of action” would be considered.
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