Anti-Gatwick campaigners have described the latest review into aircraft noise pollution as a ‘mixed bag’.
The Independent Review of Arrivals has recommended a number of policies, including widening the flight path, to ‘thin out’ approaching planes, which would reduce the noise impact on people living under the flight path.
This reverses a decision to narrow the paths in 2013, which acted as a catalyst for the creation of several activist groups. The result is that more people will be subject to aircraft noise, albeit at a lower level.
A statement released by the Tunbridge Wells Anti Aircraft Noise Group (TWAANG) said: “We are concerned that it will increase the number of people experiencing disturbance from noisy aircraft, in conflict with the stated aim of ‘fewer disturbed’. It will take aircraft over the whole of Tunbridge Wells, beyond to Pembury, the hospital and villages in the area.  It remains to be seen if the extra disturbance experienced by those newly affected can be justified by improvements for those now under the flight paths.”
