Expanding City Airport could cause Hackney residents sleepless nights
Plans to extend London City Airport would mean a 50 per cent air traffic increase over East London, with up to 120,000 take-offs from the airport every year.
Two hundred million pounds in investment would lead to the airport’s current capacity doubling over the next 10 years, but rather than building additional runways, the plan is to increase the number of passengers by flying bigger planes and increasing the frequency of flights.
The expansion involves constructing new stands to accommodate the bigger planes as well as building a new taxi way and expanding terminal buildings. Bigger planes will be noisier and more polluting, and, because bigger planes need a wider turning curve as they approach landing, they will be coming closer to Hackney.
CO2 emissions from planes contribute to climate change, but aircraft have localised impacts on air quality too.
Aircraft emissions, along with the high concentration of traffic around airports, leads to high levels of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter in the surrounding air.
Although the direct impact of aircraft noise on health is not yet fully understood, it is thought that sudden onset of noise raises heart rates and blood pressure and disturbs
people’s sleep.
London City Airport argues that the airport warrants expansion because it serves as an important link between London, Europe and the Middle East.
However, it is mainly used for short-haul flights for business purposes, and these types of journeys could easily be completed by train instead.
Those opposed to the expansion doubt that the alleged economic benefits outweigh the potentially higher levels of air and noise pollution. London City Airport claims that expansion is key to East London’s regeneration, and Newham Council is in support of the proposals.
However, the number of jobs created to date has been fewer than originally promised, with the airport currently hiring no more people than a large supermarket. So the claim that the expansion plans will create 2,500 new jobs by 2030 should be met with scepticism.
Fight the Flights is a group of local residents campaigning against City Airport’s expansion.
It has merged with Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (HACAN) and continues to work across affected boroughs to reduce the impact of the airport on residents. For more information see hacan.org.uk
Not a well researched article. Most flights are to Europe or in the UK. I can’t find a single Middle East destination. Also, bigger planes are not necessarily more polluting or indeed noisy – they can be, but I somehow doubt that a modern Embraer is anywhere near as noisy or polluting as the 4-engine BAE 146s that are still being used by Swiss and City Jet.
As for completing journeys by train instead – that’s fine if you go to Paris or Brussels. But beyond that? Have you ever taken a train from London to Frankfurt? I have. Trust me, it’s not an alternative.
Journalism shouldn’t just consist of copying a pressure groups press release.
Ah, forgive me. I didn’t note that this was an opinion piece, in which case the rather ill-informed nature of it has to be accepted, if not forgiven. I guess FotE are now off my Christmas donations list. Sharpen up guys. 🙂