"Using Concorde’s Noise to Justify 3rd Runway Is An Outrage”

London Assembly Member Tony Arbour calls DfT calculations an “insult to one’s intelligence"

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London Assembly member, Tony Arbour, has described using Concorde’s noise levels in calculating whether a future third runway at Heathrow would increase disturbance as “an insult to one’s intelligence”.

Mr Arbour, attending the London Assembly Environment Committee’s investigation into the impact of a third runway, demanded to know why when deciding whether to approve a third runway the Department for Transport used 2002 as the benchmark year for noise levels instead of more recent figures for 2006.

Commenting, Mr Arbour, who represents Hounslow on the London Assembly, said, “Why 2002? Well that was the last full year in which Concorde operated from Heathrow. The twp daily flights it made created as much noise as 120 Boeing 757s.

“So to compare the noise levels resulting from a third runway and say ‘it’s alright because it’s not as bad as it was in 2002’ is just an insult to one’s intelligence and entirely disingenuous.

“It is a straightforward fiddle and it should not be allowed.”

The Committee also heard that the Environment Agency had given approval for a third runway despite having no idea about how many people its operation would affect.

November 10, 2009