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Read the full WDPS response to the NATS consultation document
Campaign against new Flight Path
National Air Traffic Services (NATS) Airspace Change Proposals: Terminal Control North – Luton Airport
NATS have published proposals to change aircraft routes over a large part of South East England known as Terminal Control
North. This principally affects take-offs and landings at Heathrow, Stansted, Luton and London City airports.
The proposed changes at Luton will have a significant impact on the village of Wheathampstead and the surrounding
area.
Public Consultation
The proposals were open to public consultation until 19 June 2008. The consultation document can be viewed at www.consultation.nats.co.uk or at some public libraries. The section affecting Wheathampstead is Part F: Chilterns and Luton area.
Please click here for an outline of the presentation
More information about the impact on Wheathampstead, together with a sample objection letter, is given on the website
www.nomoreflights.co.uk. Information about the likely effect of all the proposals for Luton Airport is given at www.ladacan.org.
We are pleased to report that many local people and organisations responded to the proposals by the deadline date of
19 June.
Grounds for objection
The reasons for objecting to the NATS proposals can be summarised as follows:
- The basic reason why the CAA should accept a change has to be that continuing to use the current airspace structure would
pose a threat to safety, but nothing quantifiable is said about improved safety.
- The consultation period (13 weeks) is too short to allow meaningful public consultation on such complex proposals.
- NATS have refused to attend any public meetings to explain the proposals, and are not answering questions put to them
during the consultation period.
- Why are there no alternative proposals offered? A true consultation would include alternatives.
- The real purpose of the proposals is to enable further growth in air traffic to be accommodated (but NATS are not admitting
this).
- There is no current objective data on aircraft noise to enable a proper assessment of the impact of the proposed changes
on rural areas to be assessed. The proposals should be shelved until the Noise Advisory Council work has been updated.
- Aircraft noise over countryside such as that around Wheathampstead is more noticeable and more annoying because of the
low background noise levels.
- These tranquil areas are precisely the places people want to visit for peace and quiet – not to experience frequent,
intermittent, noisy events overhead.
- Rather than concentrating the flight paths in a narrow band around Wheathampstead and other areas on the proposed new
Easterly departures to the South West route, it would be better to allow them to disperse over a wider area, so that the noise
nuisance is shared.
- Luton Airport has become a ‘city’ airport – on the edge of a conurbation surrounded by other urban areas
– so it should be treated the same as other such airports, with a night-time and weekend curfew.
- The consultation document significantly under-estimates the number of people who will be overflown, by not including the
thousands of new homes proposed around Stevenage, Luton, Hemel Hempstead, etc.
- P-RNAV is not being introduced on the Luton Easterly route to the North (for unexplained reasons), so why is it necessary
to do so for the Easterly route to the South West?
- Why have NATS not considered moving the Bovingdon stack (for Heathrow) further west, in order to provide more airspace
for Luton Airport?
- In summary ... The case is not made according to the CAA rules and so must be refused.
Demonstration outside NATS London office
On the final day of the consultation period, 19 June, a campaign group callled AirportWatch organised a demonstration
in central London that terminated outside the NATS London office.
It was attended by protesters from a wide range of communities affected by the proposals, including representatives from
Wheathampstead who waved the flag for the area.
Useful Addresses
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Director of Airspace Policy |
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RG1 4BR
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London WC2B 6TE
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AL4 8SB
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