Representation by S Pentland
- Date submitted
- 22 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
The question that actually matters in a democracy is how do the proposed changes impact CITIZENS. Harpenden already suffers from the HIGHEST cumulative amount of aircraft noise - thanks to overhead flights from Luton westerly departures AND easterly departures AND arrivals... as well as most Stansted departures, and ALL easterly departures from Heathrow heading for North America or the rest of the UK. Unbelievable but true - check for yourself, before you do anything else! Only once you have ADDED this up, are you starting with a correct statement of the CURRENT cumulative noise volume suffered by our community. The you have a STARTING POINT on which to assess with any honesty or integrity the ADDITONAL brutal impact of the proposed Luton expansion. Add to this situation, the bureaucratic sclerosis that has infected UK airspace administrators, meaning that, for the last 5 years since Luton's frenetic exponential expansion began, there has been NO PROGRESS on tackling the compounded impact of the issues of inadequate take-off CLIMB RATES; overhead THROTTLING as aircraft make sudden increases in speed and/or altitude 4 minutes into their departure; or the noise "stiletto effect" that results from Luton departure routes following the SAME precise RNAV route and gouging out a motorway in the sky over our greenbelt community. Neither have the airlines covered themselves in glory - with their empty spin about the imminent introduction of low noise aircraft! Bim Afolami MP has been passed from pillar to post as he has tried to give a voice to his constituents' concerns - to pit their democratic public interests... against private investor interests - and tackle once and for all the menace of "fly tipping" of extreme aircraft noise from a Bedfordshire airport into its neighbouring Hertfordshire community.