Aircraft noise - have your say...

[Jeremy]

I very rarely notice them, and I've lived over near the Plough, and down near the station. I've never had double glazing.

[Pearson]

Nice one Jeremy!

[witsd]

Never noticed or heard them in the 4 years I've been living here.

Early morning grass-cutting however...

[treehugger]

I live on Barry Road, don't wear ear plugs, don't have double glazing, do hear the planes but they don't bother me. I am quite a calm, relaxed person - so maybe that's the difference... What about meditation or similar?

[Sue]

There's one going over now (6)

[Sue]

And another one (6) or possibly the same one going round in circles.

Shouldn't have given away my meditation stool, obviously :))

Off to hug the tree outside my house.

[DJKillaQueen]

I've never really noticed it either and until they changed the flight paths a couple of years ago I was right under one with planes travelling from 4am! But when my mother came to stay she noticed it right away. I guess some people are more sensitive to noise than others and I have always been able to sleep through anything anyway.

[dukesdenver]

I don't notice them either, but I live on LL so I'm used to a certain amount of noise.

[roblay]

We should do more to control other sources of noise, such as people. Happy to be consulted on that.

[joobjoob]

Thanks for the info, we wondered what was going on as they seem to shift the flight paths more over 24 hours than they used to. If we hit the jackpot and have the 4 am flight path over us, you can guarantee we'll have 2 little chaps in our bedroom thinking it's morning within ten minutes. It's no fun facing a school day when you are 4 and 6 year's old after starting the day at 4 am. I will certainly be following your thread. I've also been wondering how many loose flight time rules will be broken when everyone arrives for the olympics?

[stephent]

I think it's perfectly reasonable to ask for less night flights (most airports in Germany, inc Frankfurt, have a complete ban and it doesn't seem to have hurt their economy) or for flights to be more widely dispersed over London when landing. There are no technical reasons for planes to have to fly over Dulwich to land at Heathrow, they could just as well jet north over Epsom and do a hard bank left at Twickenham (as anyone who ever flew into the old HK airport will attest to).

I always found it's best when submitting things to the government to do it as a group though, so perhaps it would make sense to post a draft response up and allow others on the forum to sign it?

[Jeremy]

stephent, I used to live near Twickenham - the planes really were loud there!

By all means complain about flights late at night or early in the morning, but I don't see what anyone could acheive by complaining about the route. All of London (and SE England in general) is densely populated, any route is probably going to disturb somebody.

[RichTea]

Some of these responses beggar belief! We live in a big city so we should apparently accept anything and everything. Well, we could just as easily say that London congestion would be eased by building 4-lane motorways out of town. The Southbound one could go down Lordship Lane. And those who object should "get real or move out". Ridiculous.

London is quite unique among European cities in having the main approach for its largest airport directly over the entire town. This was a disastrous planning error. The noise and pollution affect millions every day.

Some people are heavy sleepers, many are light sleepers. The planes fly directly over my house and while for 11 years I have just got on with my life, I haven't got used to the noise. I welcome any form of consultation from the government on this.

[taper]

The report here's interesting

http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/news/detail.php?art_id=2129

[Sue]

Good post, RichTea

[danb]

Aircraft noise in the early mornings - 5am onwards - is particularly bad for me in East Dulwich, but it really does vary by street, so thanks for posting this link.

If it's not a problem for you, why bother even looking at this thread, nevermind posting on it.

[Sue]

Taper, thanks so much for posting that link, very interesting article.

[2Sheds]

Good ol' RichTea! He/She says everything I wanted to but I couldn't be bothered to take time respond to some of the ridiculous comments on this topic.

[Major Algy Wymondham]

I live off Northcross Road and I never notice the damn noise until after I have read about it on the EDF (usually happens about this time every year). To be fair, my hearing isn't what it used to be.

Best wishes,

Algy

[SplendidLikePeckham]

.....and anyone who is bothered by this and tempted to think it's not worth responding to the consultation should bear in mind what happened with Heathrow's 3rd runway. In early 2009 that was looking like a done deal, Geoff Hoon having given the go ahead.

Some on this thread would probably have suggested those campaigning against it should move to Orkney/accept the fact we live in a global capital city/stop moaning etc etc ... but the campaign went on, the Conservatives (whatever your view of them) clearly recognised it as a hot election issue, promised to overturn the decision and promptly did so on forming the Coalition.

Like them or not, this Government is evidently prepared to make decisions that annoy the aviation industry. My personal hunch is this is because west London areas such as Richmond and Kew, blighted by noise for decades, are traditionally Tory, and Labour tended not to be so bothered by what people living there thought. A totally unresearched generalisation I know.

So to generalise yet more......... my conclusion is that many people (ie voters) don't like aircraft noise, especially very early in the morning. The present Government has demonstrated it recognises the issue as a potential vote winner. This consultation is a golden opportunity to ensure they know how widespread the affected areas are, and call for a reduction/ban/flight path variation of early morning landings.

Personally I think any party(within reason) that pledged to ban Heathrow landings before 6am would secure hundreds of thousands of votes at the next election

[ianr]

Major Algy Wymondham (Major Algernon 'Algy' Archibald Percival Cholmondeley-Phipps Wymondham) Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I live off Northcross Road and I never notice the damn noise until after I have read about it on the

> EDF (usually happens about this time every year).

> To be fair, my hearing isn't what it used to be.

Neither is your new user name. What other name(s) do you or have you posted as?

[Major Algy Wymondham]

ianr Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Neither is your new user name. What other name(s)

> do you or have you posted as?

Please stay on topic. This is not the Lounge you know.

ianr Algy

[computedshorty]

Major Algernon 'Algy' Archibald Percival Cholmondeley-Phipps Wymondham

Member of the Drones Club.

Just arrived from West Dulwich Forum after a few days.

Have you joined Nunhead Forum yet? you will love the small Dog snapping at your heels.

[cali]

Hi and thank you very much for posting the link to the consultation, which I completed this morning. I have to be honest and admit that I also find it a bit hard to believe that some people think we should just sit back and take all kinds of assaults just because we live in London! By the same token, people should not complain about graffity in their street....they live in London after all and you get graffity in big cities!

The fact that the government is running a consultaiton means that it is a widespread concern and not just a few people whingeing(as someone said in an earlier post, it is a matter of disastrous town planning the fact that hundreds of planes everyday have to 'park' over London to get to Heathrow).

This morning I was waken up by 3 planes passing over my house between 5am and 5.30am! (by the way, I do have double glazing and wear earplugs because otherwise I would wake up before 6am everyday thanks to the planes, but one of them had fallen out. However this is not a solution. What about people that have kids? They certainly can't sleep with earplugs...

It is important to remember that when we are not passengers (which is most of the time) we are all citizens that have the right to a night sleep and to be productive the following day....The economy would not collapse if planes were not allowed to fly to HTW between 11pm and 7am and to suggest otherwise is madness. At the end of the day nobody on this forum bought one of the houses near Heathrow going cheap. We bougth a house nowhere near the airport and it is only fair that we demand that planes do not fly during the night or too early in the morning. The current agreement ends in October 2012 and I am really concerned that the rules preventing Heathrow from receiving flights throughout the nigth will be relaxed.

It's importat to act and to fill in the consultation questionnaire.....otherwise we will all end up having to move!

[aspidistra]

I've lived in ED for over 25 years, and the problem has most definitely got a whole lot worse in that time. In the mid-80s there really was no aircraft noise.

I can put up with high noise levels while sitting in the garden/outside during the day (raising voices, waiting for the plane to go over before you speak), but the early morning flights are a killer. Your mileage may vary: the noise experienced depends on exact location and the terrain as well as the weather, and which way your bedroom faces etc. etc., and indeed how good your hearing is and how you as an individual respond to certain frequencies. I find ear plugs are not so good at dealing with the lower, rumbling frequencies which the planes make as they bank.

Thanks for the link, taper.