London Assembly announces probe into airport

12 March 2010

THE London Assembly's Environment Committee has announced they are to launch an investigation into the environmental impacts of the expansion of London City Airport and wants to know how the extra flights are affecting people in the capital.

In July 2009 Newham Council gave permission to increase the number of movements from 91,000 to 120,000 per year. Expansion was made conditional on tougher environmental controls for air quality and noise levels, which were to be monitored by borough staff.

The London Assembly Environment Committee will look at LCA's monitoring processes to assess the impact the increase in flights is having on air quality, noise and climate change. The Committee will also investigate what action LCA is taking to mitigate any negative effects.

A meeting will be held at City Hall on June 10 when the Committee hopes to hear people's views on the expansion of the airport and the environmental controls currently in place. It has also launched an online survey to gauge public opinion about how flights to and from the airport may already be impacting on local people. The survey can be found at www.london.gov.uk/city-airport and will close on June 18 2010.

The review will add to the Committee's body of work on the environmental impacts of airport expansion on Londoners. As well as gathering Londoners' views, the Committee will analyse written information from a range of organisations and will publish its report in July.