For those members of our community who have asked how and to whom they can most usefully complain about the excessive noise of low-flying aircraft over Hever, we hope the following information, carefully researched, will be of help.
FIRST LEVEL
Where there is a particular incident or there is protracted noise over a short period of time, the Department of Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority do not really want to know. They want you to contact people at the airport of arrival or departure of the offending airplane. In our case, that would be the BAA at Gatwick, i.e. the company that operates Gatwick for profit. The BAA's Flight Evaluation Unit (FEU) is charged with handling noise and similar complaints.
Should you feel the need to contact the FEU with a specific complaint, you will need to provide your name and address, including your postcode (which is essential), and your telephone number as well as the date and time (specifying am/pm) of the incident. You should also ask them specifically for a reply. You can contact them by e-mail at
Lgwnoise_line@baa.com
or you can telephone
Gatwick Airport - Freephone 0800 393 070
or you can write to
BAA Gatwick
Flight Evaluation Unit
Gatwick Airport
West Sussex RH6 0NP
You will receive a reply (and to give them their due they do answer complaints promptly) but it is a bit like it was when we used to go train-spotting! They will not do much more than give you details of the offending aircraft. If you complain each and every time there is high annoyance, you will soon feel the answers you receive are getting a bit familiar and consequently you might also feel they are not applying much concern to the cause of the problem. Their statistics are not so much concerned with the number of incidents reported as with the number of complainants. It seems that if the number of complainants is low, the problem is not one to give them concern.
It is not the BAA that sets the policy or makes the regulations. Other bodies have the authority here and you may feel the need to let them know about the effects some of their policies and regulations are having. And so we can now move to the
SECOND LEVEL
"The CAA shall provide a focal point for receiving and responding to aircraft related environmental complaints from the general public."
The web site gives the following address, telephone numbers and e-mail :-
Consultation Secretary
Directorate of Airspace Policy
CAA House
45-59 Kingsway
London
WC2B 6TE
Tel: 020 7453 6599
Fax: 020 7453 6593
Email: david.butcher@dap.caa.co.uk
THIRD LEVEL
The laws that BAA, CAA and the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) have to abide by are of course government instruments originating from the Department of Transport (DfT).
Reported experience is that the DfT usually attempts to refer complaints as fast as possible to the airport concerned. But you may feel it quite proper that it should be kept informed of a recurring problem, particularly if you are not happy with the BAA's lack of action or inability to combat the problem.
The Department has a specific section relating to aircraft noise with an e-mail address:-
aed@dft.gsi.gov.uk
You might feel that this is about as far as you can go in the expectation of getting some action to obtain relief from persistent and increasing disturbance. Many people advocate that to get the result you want, you need to go to the person at the top.
FOURTH LEVEL
That person at the Department is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, currently Gillian Merron. Her e-mail address is:-
Gillian.Merron@dft.gsi.gov.uk
So, instead of one address as previously shown on this website, you now have four! The Parish Council regularly reports to Sir John Stanley M.P. who has kindly agreed to make representations on our behalf. We suggest that residents who use the addresses we have given do not copy their submissions to Sir John, but copy them instead to the Parish Council Clerk (for details, click here).