Residents urged: speak out on changes to flightpaths

The Royal Borough is urging residents to have their say on proposals to change the flightpaths of aircraft taking off from Heathrow before they turn north.

Fears that the proposals will move those aircraft take-offs further south – passing over Horton and Wraysbury, Old Windsor, parts of Windsor and east towards Bray – have been expressed by councillors this week as the consultation is extended until mid-June.

Launched by NATS – the National Air Traffic Control Service for the Civil Aviation Authority – the consultation proposes changes to northbound take-offs affecting airspace at Heathrow and also flights from Gatwick, Stansted and Northolt.

Cllr Phillip Bicknell, chairman of the Royal Borough's aviation forum, said: "We are particularly concerned about the impact these proposals will have on the quality of life of many of our residents in the Royal Borough.  By moving flightpaths to the south, residents in Horton and Wraysbury, Old Windsor and parts of Bray will be more affected as the aircraft will still be relatively low after take-off and even noisier still when banking to turn.

"As far as we can see there could only be one possible benefit to our residents from these proposals – that advances in provision navigation systems should lessen the risk of inaccurate flightpath-keeping.  But that in turn means that aircraft movements will be more concentrated over some areas.

"Our other main concern is that this consultation is only focussing on current airport movements, with potential to increase capacity without consideration for the proposals for a third runway.  Quite simply it is yet another step in the whole saga of airport expansion, and one which we must continue to fight against."

The proposed changes only affect take-offs, and only those to the north and northeast.  No changes are proposed for landings, considered by many to be the main problem in the area as landings are concentrated whereas take-offs spread out soon after leaving the airport.     The proposals aim to reduce congestion, with individual stacking proposed for each airport.

The 2M group of councils – which represents more than four million people affected by the environmental impact of Heathrow expansion proposals and includes the Royal Borough – has written to Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Transport, to protest that residents have not been properly advised of the proposals.

The consultation can be viewed and downloaded from the NATS website at http://www.consultation.nats.co.uk/ where stakeholders can carry out a postcode search to indentify route changes in specific areas.

Comments can be registered either on the NATS website or by emailing the council's environmental protection team at environmental.protection@rbwm.gov.uk or calling 01628 683538.

All comments should be submitted by Thursday June 19.