Last week I attended a Council for the Independent Scrutiny of Heathrow Airport (CISHA) meeting at Hounslow Council, the independent group for scrutiny of Heathrow Airport, in conversation with the Heathrow CEO and Liz Sugg (Chair of CISHA).
A wide range of topics were discussed, mainly affecting residents in the immediate vicinity of the Airport, or directly under the approach and take-off paths (where planes are still relatively low) of the airport.
Relating directly to Surrey Heath: There was a positive discussion around additional rail links to Heathrow from the Southern network (including South Western Railway), this would be hugely beneficial to those needing to reach the airport, Arup have been commissioned to consult and explore this.
Furthermore, the Airspace Forum is working to engage more with health agencies to improve the quality of debate - you will see in the image attached that we are under flightpaths in Surrey Heath (though - rarely due to the way the airport operates).
Economically, the Airport has returned back to operating at pre-pandemic passenger levels, and thus new-hires have increased to 25,000 in the past year and a half. The airport continues to be a key employer.
I did receive questions from Surrey Heath residents, on the night there was limited public question time due to rich debate on other subjects, so I will be following those up with the Airport directly.
The map depicts the green shadow - departure flight paths (departures generally 10-12db noisier than arrivals) - and red shadow - arrival flights.
Residents are likely to be happy with what this map illustrates. Most of Surrey Heath is affected by Arrivals, that are less noisy, and we have 76% of time with no aircraft movements. Arrivals are still relatively high at the points over Surrey Heath, and there is little to no noise.
I note that there is a small portion of Chobham (Surrey Heath) that could be affected by Departure noise (remained Aircraft free for 47% of hours). I'm interested in hearing from these people, if they feel adversely affected by Heathrow operations.
- Cllr Lewis Mears
