Proposed draft revision to the Airports National Policy Statement.

To be known as the Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement.

Many London civic societies will have concerns about various aspects of the Heathrow expansion proposals on which the government is currently consulting, including aircraft noise, local air pollution, impacts on road congestion and many more.

In the Putney Society our greatest concerns relate to aircraft noise impacts, which could well affect a wide area of London, either through more intensive use of existing flightpaths, with shorter periods of respite, or through the introduction of new routes passing over areas which have not previously suffered from aircraft noise.

We consider that the government needs to do a great deal more to ameliorate the noise impacts of Heathrow than it is proposing. We are seeking:

• a ban on night flights from 11pm to 6am, from the earliest practicable date, to be extended to an 8-hour ban if and when a third runway opens.

• steeper descent approaches, so that planes flying overhead will be higher in the sky and so less noisy for people on the ground.

• a guarantee of at least nine hours respite from aircraft noise each day, as at present; and

• a much more stringent overall Heathrow noise limit than that being proposed by the government.

We recently submitted evidence to the House of Commons Transport Committee giving more details on what we are seeking, together with supporting evidence and arguments.

We will be very happy to work with other Civic Societies on this issue. If you would like to share material with us, or have any questions, or points you would like to discuss, please contact Stephen Luxford.