Sunday, October 02, 2011

Another reason to dislike the Olympics... Heathrow to change runway rules ramping up noise levels

Organisers of the London Olympics could be accused of having done little to endear themselves to the Great British public ahead of next year's big event.

With tickets as rare of hens' teeth and Londoners being told to stay off the roads and avoid their own public transport system, the 2012 games are rapidly becoming a community relations disaster.

Now people living under the flight path into Heathrow airport are being warned they will experience far greater noise levels around the event as rules governing runway use are relaxed to cope with the increase in air traffic.

Currently Heathrow's two runways are alternated between take-offs and landings in order to minimize the amount of noise pollution suffered by local residents.

Under this system planes land on one runway and take-off from another until 3pm when the roles are switched allowing residents living directly below the flight paths a well-needed break.

John Stewart, chairman of campaign group Hacan, said locals were angry at no longer be guaranteed a half day¿s break from the noise of the planes.

Every week the rota is reversed to ensure further fairness to residents.

Only in extreme circumstances can a runway be used for both take-offs and landings.

However under a pilot scheme, which will be trialled during the games next year, airport operator BAA will be allowed to use runways for both purposes on a far more regular basis.

The new rules will allow runways to be switched to dual use if a plane faces a 10 minute wait to take-off or land, if 30 per cent of flights are running more than 15 minutes late or even if it would just be more convenient to land one of the new Airbus A380 super-jumbos on a particular run-way.

With the average delay time for Heathrow flights currently standing at 12 minutes it would only need an additional three minutes for the new regulations to kick in.

And with Heathrow expected to become busier than at any time in its 65-year history during next year's games, residents fear noise levels will increase dramatically.

Local environmental group Hacan fear the trials are the first step towards BAA scrapping the runway alteration system in a bid to increase Heathrow's capacity.

Chairman John Stewart said, 'Although the total number of planes landing each day would not change, people are very angry indeed about the fact that they will no longer be guaranteed a half day’s break from the noise of the planes.

The proposals will be trialled for a three month period between November 1 and February 29 and then for a further 3 months between July 1 and September 30 which will coincide with the Olympics.

If, after these trials, the Government still wants to go ahead with the changes, they will be subject to public consultation.

Mary Macleod, Tory MP for Brentford and Isleworth, a constituency directly under the flight path said the new proposals were unacceptable.

She told the Sunday Times: 'People will understand that special measures may be needed following a long period of snow or volcanic ash.

'But it is simply not acceptable for operational freedoms to be triggered by a minor delay of 10 minutes or so to a flight.'

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