Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce aviation noise in the South East.

The Government recognises that aviation noise is a key concern for communities that aircraft fly over, including the South East.

As part of its forthcoming Aviation Strategy, the Government has put forward a number of proposals designed to incentivise the aviation industry to successfully modernise airspace. Airspace modernisation should allow aircraft to climb more quickly than they can at present, and descend continuously, both of which will have a noticeable noise reduction benefit.

Through the Aviation Strategy, we have also considered how sustainable growth should be defined in terms of noise. Proposals brought forward in the green paper include developing a new national indicator to track the long-term performance of the sector in reducing noise, routinely setting noise caps as part of planning approvals, and requiring all major airports to set out a plan which commits to future noise reduction, and to review this periodically.

The Government has also taken forward proposals for additional methods of representing communities’ exposure to noise and requirements for options analysis and consultation that will ensure communities are more engaged in future decisions around airspace that affect them.