Yes, Hugh, because it affects me very badly.I came here in 1981 when there were about 250,000 aircraft movements a year at Heathrow and the planes didn't bother me.The inspector at the T5 inquiry gave the go-ahead for the terminal on condition that aircraft movements were capped at 480,000 a year, roughly the present number, on the grounds that to exceed this would make life intolerable for residents under the flight pathHeathrow now proposes, and May endorsed this pushing it through Parliament with a 3 line whip, for this number to rise to 760,000 a year, roughly an additional 700 planes a day. This means that the "respite" we are currently permitted will shrink drastically from the current half a day to less than a third, a fact hidden in the Davies Commission report. Heathrow has not published flight paths for these additional planes.The 777 and A320 are particularly noisy planes which Heathrow acknowledges. If you're outside when they fly over my house (and planes fly over roughly every 90 seconds) you can't hear what someone standing next to you is saying. If I have my windows open in hot weather I have to close them because of the noise.A couple of weeks ago the DH announced eight hours sleep was the ideal amount for good health. Heathrow has graciously announced it will ban flights for 6.5 hours during the night.There are are several research studies proving the damaging effect of aircraft noise, both at day and night, on mental and cardiovascular health and on children's learning.
Elizabeth Balsom ● 2665d