Flight-path residents fear ‘noise all day’ if runway rules are changed

 
Lindsay Watling25 June 2012

Residents living under the Heathrow flight path today condemned plans that could mean tens of thousands more planes at the airport each year.

Chancellor George Osborne is being asked to allow both of the airport’s runways to be used all day for both take-offs and landings.

At present one runway is used for landings and the other for take-offs with the roles switching halfway through the day to provide nearby communities with respite time.

Under the proposed changes there could be 60,000 extra flights and 20 million additional passengers each year.

Cranford residents, who would have a plane passing overhead every 90 seconds, were angry at the plans.

Business student Vishal Kamle, 17, of Waye Avenue, Cranford, said his house “shakes” every time a flight goes by. “We have double glazing and everything, but that’s how loud it is. I can’t hear the TV properly,” he said. “For the people that live locally it would be worse. It’s a bad idea.”

Ibrahim Gucluer, 19, whose father runs a kebab shop in Cranford, said he was used to the noise having spent his whole life in the area, but added that most people would not be happy at the prospect of it increasing.

“We are going to have it all the time,” he said. “Probably while we are trying to sleep it won’t be good. It will be much noisier.” Jay Alexander, 25, who works at the Jolly Waggoners pub in Hounslow, said a new airport should be built “somewhere else” instead. “I live on Bath Road right under the flight path and I already get woken up at 4.30am by planes,” he said.

Mother-of-two Katarzyna Kubiak, 29, of Botwell Crescent, Hayes, said hearing planes so regularly could have a negative impact on people’s health. She added: “We already have five terminals. It’s a high risk for the local people. For the children it’s hard as well.”

Businesswoman Idite Lopes, 49, who runs the Moniz café and restaurant in Cranford and lives in Harlington Corner, said more flights would be good for the economy and create jobs.

“I used to live in Cranford and from my bedroom I used to see the planes. When I bought my house, I actually missed it,” she added.

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