Night Flight On line Consultation

Conservative candidate encourages you to respond....

Justine Greening, Putney’s Conservative prospective MP has urged other www.PutneySW15.com readers affected by night flights over Putney to keep a look out for the latest Government consultation on night flights on the Department for Transport.

Consultations page: www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_about/documents/page/dft_consultation_page.hcsp. The consultation document was expected on 17 January but has not yet been issued.

“The second and final stage of the night flights consultation is due any day now. The first consultation document was just posted on the Department for Transport website during the summer so that’s the place to look.”

We probably won’t get much time at all to comment on the government’s proposals when they come out. The government will be under pressure to quickly agree a new night flights regime by the aircraft operators so they can organise their winter timetables. That could mean there is little time left for the actual consultation with residents affected, which could be disastrous. That’s why I want to alert people to look out for the proposals as soon as they are issued. The more people who see and express their views on the consultation document – when it’s issued – the better.

We’ll have to live with the new night flights regime for the next 5-6 years. I’m concerned that the proposals will be steamrollered through and we won’t have had chance to fully understand the impact of them on people who live under the flight path in Putney as I do. There is a grave risk that as residents we’ll be completely ignored, with the aircraft operators’ timetable print deadline proving a more important consideration to the government than our worries about early morning noise. ”

The first part of the night flights consultation caused significant concern against local residents groups such as the Putney Society. Wandsworth Borough Council raised concerns that the way was open for significant night flight increases and successfully took the government to court over its flawed consultation document and approach.


                                         

January 18, 2005