Looks like Leytonstone’s councillors have finally joined the “Fight the Flights” party…

Councillors Demand Action on Aircraft Noise

Along with many local residents your Leytonstone Labour councillors Clyde Loakes, Jenny Gray and Marie Pye are very concerned about the increased aircraft noise over parts of Leytonstone.

At our request the council undertook an investigation to identify the main causes of this.

These appear to be:

• London City Airport recently changed the direction of some of their flights particularly from runway 28, and of course many of these flights are jets.
• Further changes were made to London City Airport as a result of planning application for extra flights submitted to the London Borough of Newham. This application was not referred to Waltham Forest Council.
• Air traffic control at Heathrow airport has been redirecting a very high number of planes due to weather conditions during the summer.

As local councillors we are determined that the voice of Leytonstone is heard loud and clear about these issues.

• We have ensured that the council will respond to the current BAA Heathrow consultation programme Noise Action Plan.
• The council’s noise level assessment team will be prioritising checks to see whether residents are eligible for the London City Airport (LCA) Sound Insulation Grant Scheme.
• Waltham Forest Council will also be demanding a place round the table at the the London City Airport Consultation Committee which at the moment is only open to Barking & Dagenham, Bexley, Greenwich, and Tower Hamlets.
• As local councillors we will be contacting the London Borough of Newham to express our concern at their agreement to increased flights from City Airport.
• We will also be involved in an upcoming consultation by the National Air Traffic Service which will focus on flights coming over our area.

I do find the political posturing by all of the main parties quite amusing. At a flights meeting earlier this month the Lib Dem’s and Ed Northover (Conservative parliamentary candidate) made noises about working together and not trying to gain political mileage out of this issue. Haven’t seen any evidence of it yet!