People living in a Surrey village could suffer “an unacceptable amount of noise” from one of the UK’s major airports as plans to change flight paths emerge. Stanwell Moor could have more than 300 planes a day flying over as they come into land at Heathrow Airport.
Only 36 planes a day currently make their descent over the village in Spelthorne borough but that number could skyrocket under Heathrow’s proposals to change its flight patterns to share noise more equally to communities around the site.
This involves alternating between the southern and northern runways when the airport operates flights heading east. Most of the time (70 per cent) the airport runs on westerly operation, meaning planes take off and land towards the west as the wind favours this direction.
To help reduce additional noise Heathrow is also proposing to make changes to the airfield, including building a noise barrier up to seven foot high near Longford and changing the taxiways where planes turn on the runway to reduce ground noise.
Stanwell Moor runs directly parallel to Heathrow’s southern runway which leaves residents with a “constant stream of aircraft noise” for half the day, according to council documents. But if the airport uses full easterly alternation, the noise officer said this would “significantly increase the noise and frequency of overflights and significantly affect [Stanwell Moor] residents”.
The applicant states the redistribution of noise around Heathrow Airport will result in lower noise effects in some locations and higher noise effects in others, but it will enable noise from aircraft operations to be more fairly spread around the airport than it is currently. Despite the overall aim to allow a more even spread of noise, Spelthorne Borough Council’s noise officer has objected to the changes as it will adversely impact the area and especially Stanwell Moor.
Councillor Joanne Sexton (Independent Spelthorne Group/ Ashford East), leader of Spelthorne council, said it was “quite a shock” to see the dramatic increase. She also raised concerns about Ashford becoming increasingly louder with plane noises, but the noise officer said the changes would not harmfully impact Ashford or Sunbury.
Heathrow submitted a planning proposal to Hillingdon Borough in October 2024, which is now in the consultation stage. Spelthorne councillors voted to object to the scheme, citing unacceptable noise impacts on the borough, at an environment and sustainability council meeting on January 14. These comments will be passed on to Spelthorne’s planning committee.
Cllr Sue Doran (Labour / Stanwell North), who has lived in Stanwell for 15 years and said there is noise “virtually 24 hours a day”, applauded the council for objecting to the project. She added: “It doesn’t matter which way [the planes] fly, the noise is terrible all the time.”
Only Cllr Paul Woodward (Conservative/ Ashford Town) approved Heathrow’s proposal, arguing: “Landing is the quietest part of the operation until you put the airbrakes halfway down the runway.”
Heathrow Airport is aiming to introduce easterly runway alternation by 2028. Currently there is no proposed increase in the number of flights taking off or landing from the airport, just changes in the direction. Currently from 7am-3pm, planes land on the northern runway and depart on the southern runway. Halfway through the airport’s day, at 3pm, Heathrow switches runways to give neighbouring residents a break.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “We know that noise is an important issue for local communities which is why we have published clear reduction targets in our Noise Action Plan. Our noise footprint has reduced by 41 per cent since 2006 and we expect to see further reductions. Easterly alternation is aimed at delivering predictable noise respite to more communities and is coupled with our ongoing work to install noise insulation for our nearest neighbours.”
The consultation closed on January 16.