Aviation campaigners have warned that communities risk being locked out of decisions about new flight paths as the government accelerates reforms that will allow a third runway at Heathrow to go ahead.
Airspace around the UK will be reconfigured as part of a long-running modernisation process to allow planes to fly more efficiently and minimise delays, and the London airport has said progress in this area is essential for its expansion.
However, campaigners are increasingly alarmed that local people will now have a very limited say in changes to flight paths, after a series of consultations signalled the decisions will be shaped by the industry and lean more towards efficiency and emissions considerations, rather than noise concerns.
The government is proposing that the regulator no longer prioritise noise impacts in assessing flight paths where aircraft are higher than 4,000ft, compared with the current minimum altitude of 7,000ft. Campaigners argue that aircraft noise continues to impact people and public health well above 4,000ft.
Hundreds of thousands of people could be affected by changes to flight paths around the UK – particularly should a third runway at Heathrow go ahead, with some communities overflown for the first time. The government has also approved expansion at Luton and Gatwick airports.
The Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) said it appeared communities would have no seat on a new UK Airspace Design Service, a national body that would replace local airport engagement in specifying flight paths.
Charles Lloyd, of the AEF, said airspace modernisation had been progressing since 2017, with assurances about community involvement, but “regrettably that seems to have changed quite markedly under this government”.
“Local residents are just beginning to wake up to the realisation that they will have almost no meaningful voice at every stage in the airspace modernisation process,” he said. “The programme would explicitly be delivered by the aviation industry, for the industry, with no account taken of community views.”
Paul Beckford, the policy director at Hacan, which has long campaigned against expansion at Heathrow, said the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) consultations, running over Christmas, were “the worst example of a tick-box exercise” he could remember. He added: “They are burning community engagement and environmental regulation on the altar of economic growth. It’s woeful.”
The campaign group Communities Against Gatwick Noise Emissions (Cagne) also condemned the timing of the consultations, and said the proposals would mean “all the residents who are significantly impacted by aircraft noise, day and night in Gatwick’s case, would not have a voice”.
A DfT spokesperson said: “Much of the UK’s airspace is based on designs that were put in place in the 1950s when there were 200,000 flights per year – there are now over 2 million flights.
“Modernising our airspace will ensure we can meet the challenges of noise and carbon emissions head on whilst ensuring our skies are ready for expanded airports, and a thriving aviation sector.”
The CAA declined to comment, but highlighted it would remain the ultimate decision-maker on flight paths and that public consultation on changes would remain in the process.
The row over airspace comes as Cagne’s legal challenge to the government’s decision to approve a second operating runway at Gatwick reaches the high court. Its judicial review claim, on grounds including the assessment of emissions and noise impacts, is due to be heard over the rest of this week from Tuesday.
The government, meanwhile, said it would attempt to unlock further investment in “green aviation”, announcing a £43m fund for research and development projects that help reduce emissions from flying.
The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said it would “deliver the cutting-edge technology of the future, grow the economy and support highly skilled jobs”.
