Agenda item

Heathrow Airport Expansion Consultation

A Member reported that Heathrow Airport was currently running a consultation on changes to the way it uses its runways and the surrounding airspace within the context of the proposed third runway. He stated that some of its proposals would result in a considerable increase in the number of aircraft passing directly above the City of London, often at low altitude.

He went on to state that high rise buildings would be particularly susceptible to aircraft noise and that there could also be an undesirable impact on public space in terms of noise pollution. He questioned, therefore, whether the City would be responding to this consultation which concluded on 4^th March. He recommended that they should.

The Pollution Team Manager thanked the Member for his question. He informed the Committee that this was just a small piece of a more wide ranging consultation around the introduction of new flight paths for Heathrow Airport in 2026. He confirmed that the City would be making a collaboratory response to this piece of consultation across the 10 authorities that made up the Cross London River Partnership.

The Officer went on to report that, at present, only flight arrivals to Heathrow passed over the City. There were 8 scenarios for future departures from Heathrow covering different geographical areas around Heathrow, some of which would overfly the City of London with  between 0-17 aircraft per hour. Concerns over this had been raised in the City of London response to the consultation.

The Member thanked the Officer for confirming that the City would be responding to the consultation, He added that he had, however, understood that the issues, particularly around increased noise pollution would be more significant than described.

The Officer undertook to keep the Chairman, Deputy Chairman and the Member who had raised the matter informed of progress.

Daylight and Sunlight Matters

A Member stated that discussions around the application considered by the Committee today illustrated that daylight and sunlight matters was something that Members continually grappled with. He stressed that it was often difficult to get a grip of this and suggested that the City look to investigate and budget for the production of its own urban guidelines around this which would be more helpful than the BRE guidelines which existed at present and were mostly focused on suburban environments.

The Deputy Chairman stated that, whilst this was something that he and the Chairman could discuss further with the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director, judgement around these issues was often subjective. The Chief Planning Officer and Development Director stressed that it would be difficult to come up with alternative guidelines that would be applicable to everywhere in the City given that levels of density and occupation varied greatly even within the Square Mile.

A Member stated that today’s case clearly illustrated a more urgent need for appropriate Member training around daylight and sunlight issues so that Members were more confident in terms of making better judgements and the degrees of acceptability around any loss of day or sunlight.

A Member seconded the proposal made around the City becoming a flagship authority and looking to create its own alternative guidelines around this as it was clear that there was some room for improvement. It was suggested that this be looked at further as part of the material for future Member training around this.