HC Deb 25 January 1984 vol 52 cc577-8W
Mr. Greenway

asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish his figures for the number of complaints about aircraft noise connected with Heathrow airport made by telephone for each quarter for the last five years for which figures are available; how many were received on an automatic answering machine; and how many such calls were made between 15 November and 3 December 1983, inclusive, and between 4 and 24 December 1983, inclusive.

Mr. David Mitchell

My Department does not maintain records of the complaints it receives about aircraft noise in the detail requested. The following table indicates the annual and quarterly totals of complaints relating to Heathrow received by all means during the past five years:

1979 1980 1981 1982 1983
Q1 413 348 152 114 100
Q2 595 656 231 282 185
Q3 853 595 385 541 511
Q4 663 288 134 143 191
Total 2,524 1,887 902 1,080 987

In the periods 15 November to 3 December and 4 to 24 December 1983 respectively seven and eight such complaints were received through the automatic telephone recording equipment used in my Department outside office hours.