East Midlands Airport Draft Noise Action Plan Consultation begins

The introduction of these plans is part of a European Union directive that requires all main sources of environmental noise including; airports, major roads, railways and urban conurbations with more than 250,000 residents, to produce Noise Action Plans.

Following the consultation period the Airport will consider all comments received before submitting a plan to the Government for approval later this year. The Airport’s draft Noise Action Plan consultation which begins today, (1-Jul-2009) will conclude on 21-Oct-2009. During the consultation period the Airport will be holding a series of outreach events offering local communities, councils and other stakeholders the opportunity to discuss the draft plan amongst other community and environmental issues.

East Midlands Airport outreach events Diseworth Heritage Centre, 14-Jul- 2009 Melbourne, Bill Shone Leisure Centre, 21 July 2009 Castle Donington Village Hall, 25-Aug-2009 Kegworth Parish Council Rooms, 29-Sep- 2009

The Airport already has a wide range of noise management and mitigation measures in place including; Noise Preferred Routes which requires aircraft to fly specified departure routes, a Sound Insulation Scheme for local residents affected by aircraft noise, Noise Penalties for aircraft breaching the airport’s stringent noise levels and restrictions on the noisiest aircraft operating at night.

Commenting on the consultation, East Midlands Airport’s Director of Sustainability, Neil Robinson said: “The Airport is an important part of the region, employing more than 7,000 people and providing travel opportunities to over 90 destinations. We take the negative impact of our operations very seriously, particularly the impact on our closest neighbours, which is why we have some of the strictest controls of any UK airport. In recent years we have been successful in reducing aircraft noise around the airport by the increased use of quieter aircraft and techniques such as continuous descent approach.

“The draft plan sets out a comprehensive package of noise controls and demonstrates our commitment to manage and where possible, reduce the impact of aircraft related noise. We hope this consultation will allow the local community another valuable opportunity to feed back their views and help the Airport strike the right balance between reducing the negative impact and the substantial benefits the Airport brings to the regional economy.”
 

(c) Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. Date posted: 02-Jun-09