Roll Up, Roll Up: Airport Takes A Minimum 15% Off Home Values

In an article by Find a Property.com as far back as 2003 it was stated that:

being on a noisy road or right next to the railway line, or under a flight path, has a big negative impact, lopping off up to 15% of the value of your home

And London City Airport likes to make out it doesn't have any impact on housing prices in the area....we suspect that the 15% has become rather larger since then, and clearly any flight expansion using more and more jet planes only adds to the negative effect on the value of property. In addition being forced into a noise contour, or a Public Safety Zone due to LCAs relentless greed to expand, is hardly an attractive benefit to add value to your home. So just how much is lost when an airport expands or changes beyond recognition of it's original planning approval whilst you have lived in the same area during that time?

In the days when LCA was just for small private planes - the original purpose of the airport being opened, it would have been a lot different. But it's managed to betray the local community, along with Newham Council and push for expansion over the years leaving the community blighted by noise and air polllution. In fact, just 2 years ago the area was a lot different, and it certainly was not dominated by the majority of flights being jets, thundering overhead forcing residents to close windows and turn up the tv - even though you still cannot hear it until the so called 'whisper jet' passes by.

Of course there's a lot of money at stake to developers, planners and business if articles such as that above are publicised too much. So don't expect the property pushers to start saying anything but the opposite!

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!!