Heathrow Third Runway and aircraft noise
As a result of its relative proximity to Heathrow, the Henley constituency is one of those affected by noise from aircraft coming to and departing from Heathrow. My postbag on this subject has been large, because Henley and the surrounding area is one of those places above which aircraft bank to approach Heathrow. This is described in more detail below.
Much of the constituency also lies within the Chilterns Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty, where one of the features is tranquility - an escape for Londoners as much as a feature for local residents. We go to great lengths locally to preserve that tranquility on the ground with tight planning restrictions, but it would seem that we are not prepared to do that in the air.
A third runway would create problems on the ground as well as in the air. Many of those difficulties relate to and come from congestion on the roads. There will inevitably be a wall of congestion between us and London as a result of the third runway going ahead.
I am not anti-Heathrow; I am not anti the aviation industry. There is a great need to make Heathrow better, rather than bigger. To do that, we need to understand that high-speed rail is an alternative that would take passengers out of the air, and not just make it easier for them to travel when they land.
Aircraft noise
Most aircraft noise in the southern part of the constituency is due to aircraft positioning themselves to land on Heathrow's easterly runways or from flying on a westerly departure route. The prevailing westerly wind means Heathrow's westerly runways are used some 70% of the time.
When the airport changes between easterly and westerly operations the difference is quite noticeable and may account for some of the changes in noise about which constituents have complained.
The volume of air traffic of course changes on a daily and seasonal basis. However, there has been no change to the controlled airspace in the past two years. There has in fact been a downturn in air traffic levels since 2007 and levels are not expected to reach the 2007 peak again until at least 2013/14.
NATS is working on a project to look at the airspace over much of southern England with improvements expected in the period 2016-2020
Case Studies
I have summarised below examples of real constituency cases with which I have been asked to help. Personal and identifying details have been removed to protect the privacy of those involved.
Student Finance
A mature student found her student loan tuition fees unpaid after administrative errors had been made. We got the matter resolved so that studies could continue. The constituent said: 'Thank you so much for this, you've managed to sort this in under a week when I've been trying for over 6 months.'
Visa Problems
A constituent requested us to intervene with the UK Borders Agency after the Agency had taken over a year to deal with his case. By working with the Agency and the constituent on the detail of the case we were able to resolve it successfully.
Child Support Agency
After years of trying to resolve his case with the Child Support Agency we were able to cut through the clerical errors and complexity of the case so that correct payments could be made. The case could only be resolved by patient determination over a number of months.
Planning enforcement
Although planning is outside our normal remit, we were able successfully to challenge on behalf of constituents a local district council as to whether it was following due process in relation to a persistent breach of planning which was causing a significant nuisance.
Sewage and water
On behalf of local parish councils we have been able to work with Thames Water to focus on problems of sewage and drainage across a wide area to ensure progress in resolving issues underlying raw sewage washing down a village street.
HMRC
HMRC was about to take action against a local small business, despite having got its tax affairs in order, which would have made it difficult for it to operate. Successful intervention persuaded HMRC that the action they wanted to take was inappropriate.
Air Traffic
In response to complaints about increased aircraft noise, we were able to clarify with the air authorities how aircraft movements are mananged and the reasons why Henley and surrounding villages experience variations in aircraft noise.
Pensioner overpayment
We helped a pensioner negotiate an apparent over-payment of Pension Credit and the details for repayment.
Utilities
We assisted a constituent gain proper compensation from a utilities company following an accident.
Housing
We took up the case of housing for a former member of the armed forces.
