Review of night flights regime is delayed again
Another delay to a review of the current restrictions on night flights at Gatwick Airport has been criticised. The Department for Transport is proposing to roll over the current regimes at designated airports for two years, from October, 2022, to October, 2024. At a meeting of the Gatwick Airport Consultative Committee (GATCOM) last Thursday, there were concerns expressed about further delays to a full-scale review of night flights. Ian Greene from the Department for Transport, said: “The reason we are looking to maintain the existing regime for two years is to allow more time to consider long-term options.” The committee heard that in order to put arrangements in place by October 2022, they needed to be signed off by this July, leaving no time for a review in the five months left. Before discussing a response to the DfT consultation on night flight restrictions, GATCOM heard from Andy Sinclair, head of airspace strategy and engagement at Gatwick Airport Limited. He outlined how for the summers of 2017, 2018 and 2019 the airport had come close to its allowed limit on air traffic movements at night, but it was well within the limits during the same years’ winters. Kicking off the discussion, Helyn Clack from Surrey County Council suggested the delay would mean they would miss a ‘window of opportunity’ to review the way Gatwick operates and runs in the future while the airport is quieter. Meanwhile,
Mole Valley’s Caroline Salmon felt there was a case to lower Gatwick’s night flight allocation and also a need in particular to reduce the number of flights taking off or arriving in the 1.30amto-5.30am window. Bob Lanzer, the representative from West Sussex County Council, thought there was scope to reduce limits in the winter period, but also suggested rushing a decision would ‘send the wrong signal on the economic benefits of the airport at this stage of the economic recovery’ from the pandemic. Peter Barclay, from the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign, described how delays to the night flights’ review had left communities ‘pretty fed up with the approach and attitude’. He suggested that instead of using the 48 decibel contour, which affects 12,000 properties, the World Health Organisation recommended calculating using 40 decibels, resulting in an estimated 22,000 impacted by night flight noise. Horsham District Council’s Liz Kitchen raised the impact aircraft noise has on the health and wellbeing of those kept awake by planes flying overhead. She believed that delaying a review until 2024 was ‘too long’. Malcolm Fillmore, from Rusper Parish Council, said that consideration should be given to restricting takeoffs at night not just total movements as these ‘cause the most noise and disruption’. Liz Lockwood, from Tandridge District Council, had been told by their parishes that this should be an opportunity for the DfT to ‘remove the night flights from Gatwick full-stop’. Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Emissions (CAGNE) is also calling for a ban on night flights. The first part of the consultation is on rolling forward the existing arrangements from 2022 to 2024. Meanwhile, the second part is seeking early views and evidence on policy options for the government’s future night flight policy at the designated airports beyond 2024. The first part closed on Wednesday (March 3) and the deadline for the second opens today (Thursday, March 4) and runs until May 31. A spokesman for CAGNE said: “This two-stage consultation, with stage two setting out proposals for a new regime, is too long and confusing. “As the current night-flight regime runs out in two years’ time, and new rules need to be announced in less than a year, this again will confuse residents as to what they are meant to be answering and when.” “With the lack of night noise and residents being able to sleep currently as Gatwick has a 90 per cent downturn in night movements and departures being stopped, we do not expect residents to be aware of this important consultation that brings 11,200 night flights in the summer and 3,250 in the winter schedule for leisure flights.” To have a say, visit www.gov. uk/search/policy-papersand-consultations and search ‘night flight restrictions’.