§ Mr. Milneasked the Minister of State for Defence if he will give details of the talks that have taken place between his Department and the United States Air Force and other Services in regard to the elimination of noise from low flying aircraft in the County of Northumberland.
§ Mr. LambtonAs I informed the hon. Member in my letter of 9th November, 419W we have recently completed a review with the United States Air Force authorities of the routes flown by their aircraft when approaching the Otterburn range in Northumberland. This should result in a marked reduction in the noise nuisance in the heavily built-up areas between Morpeth, Ashington and Blyth.
§ Mr. Gwynoro Jonesasked the Minister of State for Defence what action he proposes to take to lessen the incidence of Low-Flying aircraft activity in Carmarthen-shire.
§ Mr. LambtonI regret that I cannot promise any lessening of the incidence of Low-Flying aircraft activity in Carmarthen-shire. As I am sure the hon. Member understands, low-level flying training is essential to a modern air force, but no more is done than is necessary, and any general reduction would jeopardise the operational efficiency of the Royal Air Force. Most of Carmarthenshire, in common with other sparsely populated areas of the country, bears its fair share of this low-level training, which unfortunately is bound to cause some disturbance to those on the ground.