Many local residents are concerned about an increase in noise, particularly at night, as a result of the expansion of the airport and with good reason.

Noise contour update

The airport owners have recently released a video showing the noise contours for three different planes that use Southend Airport. In each case, Blenheim school is within the 90dB noise contour on the extended runway.

Lies, damned lies and statistics

The airport has been telling everyone that they will be using more modern and quieter planes. We now know this not to be true.

A document produced by NATS, called SUPPLEMENTS TO THE UNITED KINGDOM AIP contains a helpful table of “Noise classification according to type”. This shows the Quota Count (QC) for each plane type for both take-off and landing. Simply put, the higher the number, the noisier the plane.

The table shows that a BAe 146-RJ85 is assigned QC/0.25 (84-86.9 EPNdB) on take-off, while the Airbus A319 is QC/0.5 (87-89.9 EPNdB).

The noise footprint map above compares the BAe 146-RJ85 and the Airbus A319. The red and blue lines indicating the 90dB contour show the noise footprint if the planes take off to the north east. The airport forgot to include the 90dB contours for planes taking off to the south west (which they do more often than not), so we’ve added them. These are shown as the red and blue shaded areas. They are based on the current position of the north east end of the runway, but it is due to be moved south west. This will move the noise footprint south west as well, which would put even more houses inside the 90dB contour.

This diagram is taken from the Terminal Control North (TCN) Consultation conducted by NATS. It shows very different noise footprints for the two planes we are interested in to the extent that the Airbus A319′s footprint is actually longer than that of the BAe 146. We at SAEN are not aviation noise experts (although at the rate we’re learning, it won’t be long before we are!) but neither are the members of the Development Control Committee who have to decide whether to approve or reject the airport’s planning application. However, it is quite apparent that the airport’s noise footprint map is wrong.

Further reading

More information on aircraft noise can be found here:

• What is noise? A useful summary by Lime Technologies
• RANCH Project Road traffic and aircraft noise exposure and children’s cognition and health: exposure-effect relationships and combined effects
• Aircraft noise ‘affects learning’ (BBC News)
• Airport Noise Regulations – London Southend Airport (hosted by Boeing)