§ Mrs. Gillan:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which areas he expects would be affected by aircraft noise following the possible construction of a third runway at Heathrow Airport. [144084]
§ Mr. McNulty:The areas that would be affected are set out in Chapter 7 of the consultation document "The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom: South East, Second Edition", published in February 2003, pages 56 and 57.
§ Mrs. Gillan:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate his Department has made of the level of increase in noise that residents living under and around the flight path would experience following the possible construction of a third runway at Heathrow Airport. [144085]
§ Mr. McNulty:The level of increase in noise would depend on the distance of individual residents from the proposed runway and its flight paths and the level of other existing noise sources. Illustrative noise contours, and the areas and populations contained within them at 3dBA intervals from 54dBA Leq up to 72dBA Leq are set out in Chapter 7 of the consultation document, "The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom: South East, Second Edition", published in February 2003, pages 56 and 57.
§ Mrs. Gillan:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what action he would take to mitigate the effects of aircraft noise on residents living under or around the flight path if a third runway at Heathrow Airport was constructed. [144087]
§ Mr. McNulty:We asked for views on noise mitigation and compensation measures in Chapter 16 of the consultation document, "The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom: South East, Second Edition", published in February 2003, pages 144 to 149. Having considered the responses carefully, we will set out our conclusions in the White Paper to be published shortly.
§ Mrs. Gillan:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the expected noise impact of a third runway at Heathrow Airport would breach the 702W limitations on noise set out in the package of measures imposed by the Inspector for the Terminal 5 Inquiry as a condition for construction of a fifth terminal. [144088]
§ Mr. McNulty:The planning conditions for construction of Terminal 5, which were imposed by my right hon. Friend the Member for Tyneside, North (Mr. Byers) included a restriction, to apply from 2016, on the area enclosed by the 57dBA Leq 16-hour (0700–2300) noise contour to 145 square kilometres. Information illustrating the likely noise impact of a third runway was set out in Chapter 7 of the consultation document, "The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom: South East, Second Edition", published in February 2003, page 56.
§ Mrs. Gillan:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether aircraft using the proposed third runway at Heathrow Airport would be permitted to take off and land during the night. [144089]
§ Mr. McNulty:Restrictions on night movements at Heathrow will be decided in the light of periodic consultations on that issue.
§ Dr. Tonge:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what action his Department is taking to reduce the level of noise pollution caused by (a) aircraft flying into and out of Heathrow airport (b) surface access routes into and out of Heathrow airport; and whether these measures would be affected by a further runway. [144115]
§ Mr. McNulty:Noise from aircraft flying into and out of Heathrow airport is regulated by Notices made under section 78 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982. These include night restrictions, departure noise limits, noise preferential routes and approach procedures. Noise from surface access modes is treated essentially as for those sources on non-airport routes or journeys. The noise implications of a further runway at Heathrow were set out in the consultation on the "Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom (South East)".
§ Simon Hughes:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the total (a) area and (b) population affected by aircraft noise was within (i) 57 Leq Contour, (ii) 63 Leq Contour and (iii) 69 Leq Contour and above at (A) Gatwick, (B) Stansted and (C) City airports in each of the last five years. [144170]
§ Mr. McNulty:The information for Gatwick and Stansted airports is provided in the following tables. London City airport produces maps showing the 57dBA Leq contour and 60dBA Leq contour but the information is not available in the form requested.
703W
Gatwick airport 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Area (sq. kms) within: 57 Leq contour 76.8 71.4 71.9 55.9 45.2 63 Leq contour 28.2 26.4 26.4 19.6 15.8 69 Leq contour 9.7 8.9 9.0 6.0 4.6 Population (thousand) within: 57 Leq contour 9.0 7.8 8.7 5.2 3.5 63 Leq contour 1.4 1.4 1.4 0.8 0.5 69 Leq contour 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1
Stansted airport 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Area (sq. kms) within: 57 Leq contour 64.5 52.3 52.4 32.1 31.7 63 Leq contour 22.3 20.5 20.4 11.6 11.3 69 Leq contour 8.7 7.9 7.6 3.6 3.4 Population (thousand) within. 57 Leq contour 7.6 4.4 5.7 2.3 2.0 63 Leq contour 1.3 1.4 1.3 0.4 0.3 69 Leq contour 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1