London City Airport- all day Saturday flights over Lewisham are in the balance

by Tim Walker and John Doherty

In summer 2022 London City Airport launched its latest expansion consultation, this time proposing to operate all afternoon and evenings on Saturdays, with more early morning flights on weekdays too. The Forest Hill Society made a response, along with many other Londoners and Borough Councils, including Lewisham. We opposed the extension of operating hours, saying that until the airport, together with Heathrow, introduces replacement flight paths, due 2027-28, no changes should be applied for or considered. This is consistent with our approach since City introduced its 2000 ft concentrated flight path over Forest Hill in 2016. The current 24 hour weekend ban on flying gives all overflown Londoners peace and quiet from this centrally located airport at a time when we are enjoying our homes, parks and gardens. City-bound flights over our area occur in east wind conditions, often associated with prolonged periods of fine weather in summer.

That non-statutory consultation was poorly publicised but still drew considerable opposition. Inevitably though, this expansive airport followed up by putting in a planning application running to over 100 technical documents to its planning authority, the London Borough of Newham. Newham was forced to launch their own planning consultation which ended in March. Again, this happened with minimal publicity- the only people written to directly about this lived in a small area close to the airport’s runway. Despite this, some 800 comments, the vast majority being objections, were submitted to Newham – it would surely be many more if all the communities under low City flight paths had been informed directly.

City’s planning application this time proposes flying an additional 7 hours of flights on Saturdays, an hour less in winter. This will include the largest jet we have seen from them so far, the E195-E2. They make a case that this is to meet demand for more holiday and leisure flying from the airport – originally given permission in the 1980’s to open as a small, business orientated airport with no noisy jet flights.

We have spent much time looking at these new proposals and then providing analysis, briefing and information to HACAN East, the campaign group concerned with London City Airport and to our elected representatives including Lewisham Council, our MP Ellie Reeves and the London Assembly. We wanted to support our elected representatives with solid, evidence based information and argument and to encourage them to take a clear position against the expansion of the airport.

One way we did this was to conduct our own noise measurements last summer, comparing the maximum noise levels of City airport jet aircraft at 5 measurement points under the SE London arrivals flight path. Taking 265 separate noise measurements including high up in Horniman gardens meant we were able to compare the maximum noise level of ‘new generation’ aircraft such as the Embraer E190-E2 against its predecessor, the E190. The reason for this is that City Airport has been claiming for several years that the new planes will be ‘quieter’. We wanted to put that to the test.

 

The LCA flight paths are set out by the airport above. In easterly wind conditions the airport uses a low
(at or around 2000ft ) concentrated single arrivals route over SE London then turning north towards the airport, shown by the pink east-west line.

The results were quite dramatic. Our measurements showed that over SE London the new planes were not noticeably quieter than the older ones. And neither type could be described as quiet, at around 70 decibels as they pass low overhead. When we met with the airport’s noise consultants in late 2022 they were unable to provide measured data to show any different; they said that they would expect perhaps a 2 decibel difference over Forest Hill. But we both noted that the Civil Aviation Authority state that this difference would not be noticeable to the human ear.

We published our results as a ‘Citizen Research Study’ in collaboration with HACAN East, and presented it to the airport’s senior management at their Consultative Committee. We also used it in information and briefings to our elected representatives. We said that claims that new generation aircraft are ‘quieter’ in these consultations without giving people a full understanding of where and when they might be experienced as quieter and how noticeable it would be was potentially misleading. Locally we have been delighted to see support in the form of written objections to City’s planning application from Cabinet Member Cllr Louise Krupski on behalf of Lewisham Council and from Ellie Reeves MP, both drawing on our discussions, information and analysis. At a London-wide level, both influential London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon and the Chair of the GLA Environment Committee Zack Polanski directly quoted from the Citizen Research Study and other briefing we supplied, as members of the Forest Hill Society, to the London Assembly. Our report was quoted or referred to directly or indirectly by a number of other bodies. The full study is here. It’s been a lot of work, but we feel we have done what we can for now to draw attention to this new threat to the peace of our homes, parks and gardens at weekends and to try and make sure our area is represented as best it can be by people in positions of influence.

The next step is for Newham Council to consider the Planning Application. Most, perhaps all overflown London Borough Councils have lodged a strong objection to the application. Newham’s planning committee has the unenviable job of assessing it, probably in May. If they reject it, an appeal by the airport is possible. And at any stage this decision may be called in by either the Mayor of London or by the Department for Transport to take over the issue and make the decision in place of Newham. One positive is that the Mayor of London has recently made it clear that he is against further expansion of this type by the airport.

Southern Rail Services – London Bridge to Victoria service update

 Plan to run service only during rush hours and at weekends
 
During lockdown, Southern services on the “loop line” between London Bridge and Victoria were suspended, leaving only two Southern trains per hour running between London Bridge and East Croydon. There was an expectation that the service would return to normal this autumn. But when the new Southern timetable was released two months ago, the loop line service began operating an intermittent service at weekends only.
 
A meeting with Southern to discuss the situation was convened last week with our local MP Ellie Reeves and the Forest Hill and Sydenham Societies. Present at the meeting from Southern were Olivia Barlow - Stakeholder Manager; Chris Fowler- Customer Services Director and Paul Codd - Stakeholder Manager for timetables.
 
The good news is that Southern intend to reintroduce services between London Bridge and Victoria on 4th January. However, this will only be a partial service, running throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday but only during rush hours on weekdays (7.30-9.30am and 4.30-6.30pm).
 
Train occupancy levels (which Southern presented at the meeting) show that passenger numbers remain stubbornly under 60% of pre-Covid levels. Southern also reported that they were suffering from significant staff shortages due to Covid-affected drivers having to isolate, and this is the main issue for reduced service, rather than budgetary constraints or train occupancy rates.
 
In the meantime, Southern’s advice is to travel to Norwood Junction and change there for trains to Victoria.

Transport Concerns from Forest Hill

At our AGM on 7th October, we were delighted to welcome Ellie Reeves MP to speak and take questions. A number of people expressed concern about the lack of train services through Forest Hill at weekends due to engineering works and the 'temporary' loss of all direct Victoria service, which is a well used route by many Forest Hill residents.

We are pleased that Ellie has written to TfL raising the issue on behalf of her constituents. Below is the text of her letter to members of the Forest Hill Society and we look forward to hearing when the services will be more adequate for residents.

Dear Society Members,

Many thanks for inviting me to speak at your AGM. I am always glad to attend and be involved in these community based events particularly during this challenging time.

I am aware that many of you raised the issue of a lack of weekend Overground services from Forest Hill station, and I have also been contacted about this issue by other constituents. 

I fully appreciate that these closures have significantly reduced your transport options at a time when we are all being encouraged to use our cars less. Furthermore I am also aware that this reduction of services to two trains an hour may have ramifications on passengers ability to social distance whilst using these services. 

I have written to Transport for London on your behalf, in my letter I have outlined your case and have requested an update on when regular weekend Overground services from Forest Hill will resume. I have also asked them to respond, more generally to the individual concerns raised by many of my constituents on this issue. 

I will of course let you know as soon as I receive a response. I will also write to Network Rail and the Department for Transport. Please be assured that I and my team will continue to follow up on this issue to ensure that Forest Hill receives an adequate service from London Overground and all other forms of public transport.

Best wishes,
Ellie Reeves

Member of Parliament for Lewisham West and Penge

Ellie Reeves MP

Labour Member of Parliament for Lewisham West and Penge

The last few months have been the most difficult since being elected to Parliament three years ago ― the pandemic has been extremely challenging and not surprisingly I have been dealing with an unprecedented amount of casework from constituents.

I am heartened though by how the community has pulled together. Through volunteering, fundraising and many individual acts of charity, residents in Forest Hill and across the constituency have been exemplary, and I want to thank everyone for the work they have done.

I do not underestimate the challenges that people have faced, but I know that by working together we have been able to get through the lockdown. As restrictions are eased it will be by continuing to work together that we will be able to recover from this crisis. 

Although my Forest Hill office is closed and my team have been working from home in line with Government guidance, I have continued to work with the local community. I have visited the Lewisham food bank in Forest Hill, which has been getting out £10,000 worth of food each week to Lewisham residents. I sent a video message of support to Holy Trinity on their celebration of Trinity Sunday, thanking them for their work over these past months.

I have written to schools, supermarkets and care homes asking them what I can do to support them. And I have also made representations to Transport for London to carry out urgent upgrade work to the pedestrian crossings in the centre of Forest Hill, as it is almost impossible to socially distance when crossing the road there.

As we now start to see the easing of lockdown restrictions, it is important to get things right. If we are going to reopen our society and economy safely and successfully, we also need to have confidence in the Government’s advice and handling of the pandemic.

To date, guidance and communication has been confusing and many decisions have come with an unnecessary delay. In my view, the Government was too slow to implement the lockdown, too slow on testing and getting PPE to frontline workers and too slow in getting a task force of education stakeholders together to build consensus on the wider reopening of schools.

As we move to a new normal, we need to have total confidence in the Government. That means we need absolute assurances that test, track and trace is working properly, that all children will have support over the summer and can return to school in September, and that parents will be able to get back to work safely.

In the middle of lockdown, in April I was extremely proud to be appointed to the Labour Front Bench as Shadow Solicitor General. In this role, I work with the Shadow Attorney General to scrutinise the Government Law Officer’s oversight of prosecuting bodies and the legal advice they give the Government, as well as ensuring they fulfil their duty to uphold the rule of law.

For my despatch box debut at Attorney General Questions in April, I was able to participate virtually, under the Hybrid Parliament. I have been campaigning for a long time for Parliament to reform and modernise, and so I welcomed remote participation and voting.

Despite the new system working, the Government disappointingly scrapped it after just a few weeks and required all MPs to be present in Parliament, leading to a mile-long queue to vote.

In my role as Shadow Solicitor General, I obtained urgent legal advice on shutting down the virtual Parliament which found that if MPs were ‘employees’, then the Government’s decision would likely amount to discrimination on grounds of disability, age, sex and/or pregnancy under the Equality Act.

Nevertheless, the government was reluctant to back down but have since introduced limited measures for proxy voting and virtual participation. As a result, my questions from the despatch box have been both virtual and in person. I’ve been able to cover a range of issues ¬— from Dominic Cummings’ apparent breach of lockdown rules, to ensuring that domestic abuse cases are prosecuted swiftly and effectively.

As always, I can be contacted on ellie.reeves.mp@parliament.uk.