Plans to triple flights over south east (From News Shopper)

Plans to triple flights over south east

9:44am Tuesday 5th February 2008 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
•  

A LOBBY group fears the number of planes flying over south east London could more than triple if expansion plans at Heathrow go ahead.

The plans might also see Greenwich, Blackheath and Deptford directly under the flight paths.

A consultation document released by the Department of Transport contains proposals to increase the number of aircraft landing at Heathrow.

Lobby group Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (Hacan) supports people affected by aircraft flying in and out of Heathrow.

It says the plans could mean a rise from 400 planes flying over south-east London each day to more than 1,300 for most of the year.

Group chairman John Stewart said: "It is south east London which will notice the biggest change if the Government's expansion plans go ahead.

"It will be like living under a sky of sound. Yet the Department for Transport has not spelt out to residents, or probably the local councils, what is in store for them."

However, the Department for Transport says the routes shown on the proposals are not necessarily the ones which would be used if the plans go ahead.

A spokesman said: "The airspace and air traffic control arrangements have been developed as an illustration to support the proposals in the consultation.

"But all routes would need to be refined following further detailed design and simulation."

However, Alasdair Neil of the Blackheath Society, which is campaigning against the proposals, says if they did go ahead it could mean a plane flying overhead every 80 seconds or so for residents in Blackheath and Greenwich.

He said: "There's going to be a dramatic increase in the amount of noise.

"It's scandalous the Government hasn't brought this properly to the attention of people in our area."

The consultation, which ends on February 27, outlines proposals for a third runway and aims to make greater use of the two existing ones, including new landing arrangements.

Hacan says it expects the Government to make a decision on the plans in the summer.

At the moment aircraft land on one runway until 3pm and then switch to the other one.

The Government wants to replace this with both runways being used simultaneously.

For safety reasons, aircraft would join their final landing path further away - as far east as Woolwich and Bexley - rather than over Lambeth.

Maps issued by the Department of Transport show two parallel flight paths to Heathrow, one over Greenwich, and the other over Blackheath and Deptford.

The Blackheath Society is sending a draft letter to its members which they can send in response to the consultation.

It says: "Blackheath will in future be directly under one of the flight paths and will also be considerably affected by noise from the adjacent flightpath over Greenwich.

"We can expect more than three times the number of flights over or near to Blackheath, compared with what we experience now."

Lewisham and Greenwich Friends of the Earth co-ordinator Ted Burke said: "Unless we curb the growth in flights, our targets for combating global warming are unlikely to be met."