Biggin Hill Airport is one step closer to expansion after Bromley Council approved their plans to prepare for extended operating hours on Wednesday (June 15).

The changes were approved by the council last year but at this week’s meeting the council executive reviewed the airport’s plans to meet 24 conditions.

Representatives from the anti-expansion group Flightpath Watch and Friends of the Earth told News Shopper they fear the extended operating hours will open the door to more disruption caused by an increase in planes flying over their homes.

One of the conditions set by Bromley Council is a cap on the number of movements – which covers take-offs and landings – to 50,000 annually, but opponents of the plans have little faith in the restrictions.

Guiliana Voisey, speaking on behalf of Flightpath Watch, said:

“The cap isn’t a cap – it’s an elastic band.”

“The airport is a business and they will try it on.

“We are upset with the council because they have not done a very good job at being clear and transparent – or honest.

“They have fabricated a lot of conditions which are met because they have twisted the words – not because they have factually met them.”

The proposed extended hours are 6.30am to 11pm from Monday to Saturday and 8am to 11pm on Sundays and public holidays.

The current operating hours are from 6.30am to 10pm from Monday to Friday and 9am to 8pm on weekends and public holidays.

Biggin Hill Airport has set out how they intend to meet the Council’s conditions in two documents, the Noise Action Plan (NAP) and the Management Information Letter (MIL).

The 24 conditions include implementing controls on types of aircraft permitted to use the airport and on flying training, working to reduce noise, and introducing a noise monitoring and track keeping system.

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Council Leader Stephen Carr said: “For the first time, as the landlord, the Council and residents have noise controls that simply did not exist before, all of which, will be part of the lease and legally enforceable.

“The Council will be monitoring the progress very carefully but now, the airport need to actually deliver what they have proposed before the new hours can be introduced.”

Biggin Hill Airport’s managing director, Will Curtis, said: “Biggin Hill Airport now has a formal plan to install the most comprehensive noise mitigation measures of any airport of its size in the UK before the new hours come into use.

“We are confident that the changes we have made will encourage inward investment, create high value skilled jobs and contribute significantly to the public purse, helping to pay for badly needed public services.”

The council executive voted that the conditions had been met, with four supporting the recommendation, one councillor voting against and two abstentions.

Councillor Kate Lymer, who represents Bickley, abstained from the vote, saying that she fundamentally disagreed with the extension of operating hours.

She said: “I can’t disagree that the conditions have been agreed with.

“But they are not conditions I agree with in the first place.”

Councillor Robert Evans, representative for Farnborough and Crofton, has consistently been a staunch opponent of the changes.

He said: “Living where I live and representing the ward I do, I was very strongly against the extension of hours.

“I can tell you, having been in my conservatory, the flights early in the morning are a damn nuisance.

“But I think my residents would understand it more if it was going to be a real benefit to the borough.

“I voted against it before and I will vote against it again today because I don’t think there is enough coming back to the borough to make up for the difficulties my ward will have.”

The NAP and the MIL can be accessed on the Council’s website by visiting www.bromley.gov.uk/bigginhillairport.