We received a petition asking:
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to restrict Night Flights at East Midlands Airport using section 78 (Designation) of the 1982 Civil Aviation Act to restrict the amount of Night Flights.”
Details of Petition:
“We are asking for Regulatory powers to be applied at East Midlands Airport, with regard to Night Flights. We ask that the Secretary of State applies controls that the airport is (designated under section 78 of the 1982 Civil Aviation Act) to limit the excessive environmental noise blight from the unristricted night flying permitted at the airport. East Midlands Airport hosts more night flights than any of the big three London Airports (Heathrow,Gatwick and Stansted) which are regulated by the Government under the 1982 Civil Aviation Act.”
· Read the petition
· Petitions homepage
Read the Government’s response
Thank you for your e-petition.
The Government recognises that noise from aircraft at night is widely regarded as one of the least acceptable aspects of aircraft operations. The Future of Air Transport White Paper stated that a fair balance must be struck between local disturbance, the limits of social acceptability and the economic benefits of night flights.
The Government only has specific responsibility for setting noise controls at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. Elsewhere the Government’s preference remains that local solutions should be devised for local problems wherever possible, with the airport engaging in consultation with the local community.
As we said in the White Paper, we will consider designating airports if there is evidence that a major noise problem is not being dealt with adequately through local controls.
We have received an application that East Midlands Airport be designated for noise control purposes. We have decided to defer a decision until after the airport has developed a strategic noise action as required by the EU Environmental Noise Directive. Under the Directive, airports have to consult with the local community in preparing these plans. This consultation process would provide local interests in the vicinity of East Midlands airport with an opportunity to raises current areas of concern such as night flights and for the airport to respond. In view of this, we consider that it would be best to await the outcome of this consultation before reaching a decision on designation.
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