Heathrow flight path changes will hit extra 40,000
29.04.08
Forty thousand west London residents face more aircraft noise under new plans to redraw Heathrow Airport’s flightpaths, according to Hounslow Council. The proposals, which the council says could be introduced even if the Government drops its plans to expand the airport, will mean 'more misery for residents living under the flightpath of the southern runway,' council officials have warned.
NATS, the body which provides the UK’s air traffic control services, is currently undertaking a consultation on airspace change. Under the proposals, it is planning to redraw the aircraft route map across southern and eastern England. This includes changing the route of planes taking off over London so that they fly over more homes in the south of the borough, the council reports, and could mean 40,000 people already affected by noise from planes landing over London will experience 'more noise, more of the time'.
Councillor Barbara Reid, Hounslow Council’s lead member for aviation, said: ‘Most local people are fully aware of proposals to expand Heathrow, however, the proposals to redraw the flightpaths have gone largely unnoticed.'
‘We will be responding to the NATS consultation on behalf of local residents but it’s also crucial that anyone concerned about more aircraft noise contacts NATS directly before the consultation closes next month.’
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