Thursday, March 27, 2008

How's Life Around London City Airport - A Bowl of Cherries?


We're sorry to say that life for the communities around the airport is far from a bowl of cherries.

University College London have created the London Profiler, a mapping tool which when you search a borough or postcode and select to search for illness levels, deprivation, income levels, barriers to housing etc it highlights areas to the level of deprivation they suffer.

On our first view of this splendid tool of the areas around London City Airport we have noticed that the following categories all fall into the 1st, 2nd or 3rd, 4th most deprived categories in and around London City Airport:
  • exceptionally high levels of admission to hospital for heart attacks, for male and females in the areas adjacent to the airport and directly under the east bound flight path,
  • income
  • employment
  • crime
  • health, deprivation and disability
  • barriers to housing and services
  • living environment
It's always helpful to see a map of the economic and social, health pointers to dispel the spin that London City Airport feed to residents that they have done so much for the area in 20 years.

To us here at Fight the Flights it doesn't look as if they could have done any less, or have had a more negative impact for the communities that are around them! So who is benefitting from the airports presence....? That's an easy one....

All answers to the usual address at Pinnochio Way please!!