Council blasts plan for London City Airport weekend flight extension

A South London council has blasted plans for an airport to schedule weekend flights, saying noise from planes is already “unbearable” and residents “can’t even have peace in their gardens”.

Greenwich Council has voted to oppose plans from London City Airport to add additional flights on weekends, saying it will have an unacceptable impact on residents.

Newham Council received plans, in December 2022, to add up to seven hours of flights at London City Airport on Saturdays, between 12.30pm and 6.30pm all year round and 7.30pm in summer months.

The plans also included details of three extra flights on weekday and Saturday mornings between 6.30am and 7.00am, according to council documents.

There is currently a “weekend respite” period in place for the airport, which prevents flights travelling between 1.00pm on Saturdays to 12.30pm on Sundays.

The topic was discussed at a Greenwich Council meeting.

Conservative Councillor Patricia Greenwell said the new plans could add an extra 12 flights for the airport on Saturday afternoons.

She said residents in New Eltham had described the noise from planes landing at the airport as “unbearable”, and that one resident had counted 64 flights in nearly 15 hours on a day last August.

Cllr Greenwell said: “She said, quote, ‘I couldn’t even have any peace at all in my garden.’ City Airport says more flights will mean that they can offer more leisurely routes and trips to more distant locations. How can they possibly justify this when residents who live directly under the flight path can’t get any respite to enjoy any leisure time in their own gardens?”

Conservative Councillor Matt Hartley, who put forward the motion, said the initiative to oppose the plans was a joint-party agreement. The opposition leader said the extra flights would have a particular effect on residents living in New Eltham, Mottingham and Thamesmead.

He said: “The plans that the airport has put in would bring an unacceptable impact on our borough, both in terms of noise and air pollution… Our residents are already heavily impacted by aircraft noise right across the borough, both from Heathrow flights and from City airport flights.”

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Labour Councillor Majella Anning also said at the meeting that the constant noise from aircrafts could “ruin” the mental health of those living under the flight paths. She said: “35 years ago, when London City airport was built, it might have been considered acceptable to throw more flights into the sky, keep everyone under the flight path awake, and flood the planet with CO2 emissions. But we know now much more than we did then.”

At the meeting, the council voted to carry the motion, stating the plans would bring an unacceptable level of detriment to Greenwich residents and exacerbate noise and air pollution.

A copy of the motion will be sent to Newham Council and London City Airport with a request to withdraw their proposals. The Secretary of State for Transport and the Mayor of London will also be asked to oppose the plans.

The airport previously said more flights would allow it to add ‘more leisure routes’ to ‘more distant locations’ and may ‘incentivise’ airlines to invest in quieter, more fuel-efficient planes.

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