More LIES and SPIN From H&K Hopeful

Our LCA mole kindly scanned in the latest SPIN from the airport not known for it's honesty: London City Airport.

The airport employee featured who regularly explains complaints from residents (from across the boroughs) away with the excuse of: "they are not LCA planes, they are Heathrow planes" has gone public in the 'low fare regional airlines' November publication.

She seems to be in denial about the 2000 + residents who expressed their objection of the airport expanding....in contrast to the 'few' who wrote letters of support in favour. Let's just remind ourselves: just over 300 letters in support of expansion were received by Newham - all but a few of them were from aviation and business.

But still the Hill & Knowlton hopeful kids herself that the airport has a 'great relationship' with the community.' Funny, we sense a real hostility to the airport in the communities which we work with - not because the airport is there, but because of the broken promises and the way the airport treat the community.

We'd like to see her be brave enough to hand deliver her 'runway news' and knock on a few doors, asking residents how they feel about the expansion, increasing noise levels, smell of kerosene, and explain why they have been waiting for noise insulation for 8 years and more. She might like to ask whether there are any ashtma sufferers in the households too...

We're not sure she'd get back to the airport in one piece emotionally. Still, if she is confident enough that the community loves and trusts the airport, and they have had such a good relationship - then no doubt she will be knocking on the doors of those most affected in the next few weeks......yeah right.

You can see the full spin article by the airport uploaded on our website. Go to Latest Headlines

Lies, Lies and More Lies

Fight the Flights is outraged that Newham Council has seen fit to approve a 50% increase in flights to a total of 120,000, in the face of a flawed application based on flawed data. The application was put together on 'estimated information' due to London City Airports' failure to adhere to the planning conditions set up 8 years ago. Residents shouted 'traitors' at the decision to approve as chaos broke out in the chambers. Some of those residents have been waiting over 6 years for noise insulation that the airport should have provided within 6 months.

The 5 to 1 vote in favour of expansion will see an increase in jets, including the bigger A318 operating at intervals of every 90 seconds throughout the day. However LCA are willing to buy carbon credits from other parts of the UK, and probably other parts of the world, which will essentially enable them to dump tons of carbon dust over the residents of East and South East London and the wider environment. Newham, with the highest death rates in under 30s with asthma in the country, are clearly deciding the future of residents.

According to LCA and RPS, pollution is not their problem when the planes leave the runway - then it becomes the airlines. LCA has consistently shown that they have no respect for the community or the environment and have continued to present inaccurate and disingenuous statements and 'estimated evidence'. This while they fraglantly abused operating conditions. Objectors who spoke, including residents from across the boroughs, included the London Borough of Bexley, Tilfen Land, Friends of the Earth, Plane Stupid and HACAN.

The four councillors who voted in favour seemed uninterested in the effect of an additional 46,000 residents being affected by excessive noise and pollution. The questions that they asked were of an appalling quality and not what residents would expect from their representatives. In fact they appeared so keen to support the airport that one councillor in particular couldn't wait for the voting signal before placing his arm in the air in favour.

Fight the Flights (FTF)is talking to its legal team and liaising with others, with view to a judicial review if the application is not called in by the Secretary of State. It appears that a legal challenge is likely. The communities are not willing to accept this approval and will continue to fight.

FTF continues to challenge the lies and purposely misleading information that London City Airport, RPS, Bickerdike Allen Partners and LB Newham continue to produce to support and justify this flawed application.

They think it's all over, but they are very wrong.

See more about the day and the commitment of individuals who want to protect their communities:

Amelia's Magazine
Plane Stupid
Airport Watch

LCA Breaches Requirement to Measure Noise - The Evidence

Bickerdike Allen's 2005-2006 Noise Categorisation Report - tells you all you need to know about London City Airports complete flouting of all the rules set out in it's planning permission.....7 years worth too. Trebles all round for LCA and Newham!!

You can find the document here:

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/fighttheflights/files/
named: 2005-2006 BAP Noise Categorisation Report.pdf

You'll have to rotate the view of the file though - everything about LCA is just topsy turvy!

It's just like a cappucino - the froth has come off. But they want you to fly to Moscow, Dubai and New York to look for it.

London City Airport is indeed struggling it seems - apart from the reports from residents of the noticeable reduction of flights in and out of the airport over the past few weeks, and the alledged 18 redundancies, it seems that the 'froth has come off' for the airport. The PR spinners charge a lot of money for coming up with terms like the 'froth has come off', hardly value for money that one. Austrian is also pulling out of LCA in August.

However, the airport is banking on Willie Walsh of BAs proposed New York transatlantic service from the airport to grow into routes to Moscow and Dubai. This is no surprise to objectors to the expansion - LCA will indeed be trying to get the 747s in soon, perhaps they will get the government to remove whole areas of housing, just like the proposal of flattening Sipson for the 3rd runway at Heathrow.

The New York route with the proposed introduction of the beast of a A318 is of course yet to be approved by the London Borough of Newham. But you wouldn't think so by the statements of the airport and Willie. Strangely - residents were assured by a council official that if the aircraft were approved to operate from the airport - there would be no more than 2 departures and 2 arrivals a day.

With the spotlight growing on Newham's handling of the current application to expand and of the breaches of the section 106, which have displayed exactly the type of committment the airport and council has to the community - we can confidently say that LCA should not be as confident as they were a year ago as to getting an easy trip on any of it. After all, they'd expected to had 'pushed through' the current application and have the extra services in March 2008.

So hold on to your seats residents in South and East London...London City Airport wants to morph into a transatlantic airport - full of A318 jets - flying to New York, Moscow and Dubai. Cloud cuckoo land indeed. Yes a 'mini Heathrow' is the dream of LCA.