Flight path changes for Luton Airport anger residents in South Cambridgeshire

Residents in South Cambridgeshire villages have described the sky above them as “roaring for hours” after a change to flight paths had led to planes flying so low they can “read the logos”.

A new stacking operation and flight path for Luton Airport was implemented in February this year following a consultation.

But South Cambridgeshire’s Conservative MP Anthony Browneclaims the consultation was “insufficient and poorly distributed” and that people affected by the increased noise did not get a proper say in the decision.

Meanwhile, Cllr Bridget Smith, the Liberal Democrat leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council has also been hearing complaints from residents about the increase in noise caused by the planes and met the head of flight operations for the airport last week.

Histon resident Ruth Moulder told the Cambridge Independent: “We had no influence on the decision to change flight paths and yet we’re facing the consequences every day. Sometimes the sky is literally roaring for hours, because the aeroplanes turn quite often here or they throttle down or up. People are tearing their hair out and saying they want to leave the village.”

Mr Browne said: “Residents of South Cambridgeshire choose to live here because of its rural, tranquil nature. I have therefore been thoroughly disappointed that the views of my constituents appear to have been disregarded in this process.

“I have received correspondence from Longstowe, East Hatley, Croydon, Kingston, Gamlingay, Dry Drayton, Papworth Everard, Little Gransden, Cambourne, Hardwick, Histon, Bourn, Elsworth and Gravely. They all share serious concerns that their peaceful villages and their peace of mind have been impacted negatively by these changes.”

He added that he had written to the chief executive officer of NATS Holdings (National Air Traffic Services) regarding the new flight path to Luton Airport.

In the letter, the MP said: “Anecdotally, I have heard reports of constituents being able to recognise the logos of airlines on planes overhead.”

Cllr Smith said: “There was very little about noise in the consultation which was run by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) before these flight path changes were made.”

When meeting the head of flight operations for Luton Airport, she was told “nothing has changed since the alterations to the flight paths were made back on February 24 this year”. It was pointed out that there is often an increase in complaints about aircraft noise during the summer because people are spending more time outdoors and in their gardens.

Cllr Smith was informed there would be a post-implementation review in February 2023 when Luton Airport will submit all the complaints it has received, along with other data, to the Civil Aviation Authority. If necessary, the CAA can make further changes.

A spokesperson for NATS Holdings said: "The Covid-19 pandemic, and associated social distancing requirements, meant changing the way we consulted stakeholders including local communities. Instead of physical meetings in local venues, we established a ‘Virtual Exhibition’ offering access to all the consultation information and materials, including detailed and summarised versions, to help residents make informed decisions to help shape the final proposal. We hosted 28 online webinars for members of the public so that they could put their questions directly to subject matter experts from NATS and London Luton Airport; held online meetings with local government representatives, Members of Parliament, and local community groups; and maintained correspondence with these stakeholders, continuing to answer their questions as the consultation progressed. We also tailored a programme of offline outreach with groups representing communities less likely to have access to the online consultation, and distributed 2,500 leaflets to target groups.

"There was significant media publicity throughout the consultation. Television and radio news broadcasts and more than 50 editorial articles had a combined reach of 17.6 million people and social media promotions reached 1.2 million people. All of this coverage headlined the consultation and the principles of the proposed change and steered people to the virtual exhibition and consultation details.

"More than 11,230 people visited the Virtual Exhibition, more than have ever attended local ‘town hall’ meetings in the past, and the consultation received 2,426 responses – more than any previous airspace change consultation.

"Aircraft overflying MP Anthony Browne’s constituency will be receiving individual instructions from Air Traffic Control and therefore may not always be at the same altitude or follow the same track. The track and altitude will be based on other aircraft in the airspace at the time and this typically disperses the aircraft tracks over a wider area. This was indicated as the preferred option by respondents to the consultation (Option 1 – minimal changes to flightpaths below 5,000ft with greater dispersion of flights above 5,000ft). It is also worth noting that the altitude of aircraft on these routes is monitored daily, and most aircraft are at the required altitude or higher. Any aircraft flying slightly lower is due to weather conditions on the day – ‘altimeters’ used to measure the altitude of an aircraft above a fixed level are based on air pressure, which can be altered by the weather.

"The Civil Aviation Authority (as regulators of the airspace) have set out a 7 stage process required for changing airspace, known as CAP1616. At each stage the CAA assesses our work before allowing us to continue. Before consultation, the CAA reviewed our consultation strategy and materials and were content with our approach – this was Stage 3 of the process. In Stage 5, we submitted our airspace change to the CAA providing our analysis from the consultation responses and any changes we had made to the design. The CAA accepted this work and approved the airspace change proposal in November 2021, which was then implemented in February 2022.

"The final stage (Stage 7) is a Post Implementation Review (PIR), which is a data collection period of 12-months after implementation which, in this case, runs from 1June 2022 to 31 May 2023. During this period, a review of the airspace change will be carried out, and we collect data on aircraft tracks and altitude on the route, and analyse expected flightpaths vs actual flightpaths. All complaints are logged and will form part of this analysis. Data gathering is ongoing, analysis typically takes place following a year’s worth of ‘live’ experience, and the data will be published after that analysis is complete. The CAA will then decide whether the airspace change met its objectives. The Flight Operations team at London Luton Airport is monitoring aircraft tracks on a daily basis, and monitoring the route closely to ensure it is being used as expected."