§ Mr. Robert Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Transport how many individuals raised objections to the Gatwick-Heathrow helicopter airlink; and how many people live in the flight path of this route.
§ Mr. MooreThe Civil Aviation Authority received 2,225 objections to British Caledonian's application for a licence to continue the helicopter service, of which 949 were within the statutory period allowed for objections. My Department also received over 8,000 representations against the service, including about 7,000 names in the form of a petition.
The local authorities estimated about 35,000 people were affected by the route which the helicopter operated and that some 112,500 people would be affected by the new routes on which British Caledonian proposed to fly.
About 40,000 people living in the former GLC area should be added to these estimates. Although the CAA had some reservations about the methodology of the estimates, the authority considered they gave an indication of the numbers who might be affected by the helicopter service.