Civil Aviation Bill

We are conscious of the fact that there could be problems in aerodromes of all kinds, but the principal focus is on licensed and major aerodromes. Ultimately, the Secretary of State has the power to require individual airports to provide acoustic insulation using his powers under sections 79 and 80 of the Civil Aviation Act, and indeed he has designated both Heathrow and Gatwick airports for this purpose. Currently though, noise insulation schemes are provided on a voluntary basis by airports, sometimes supported by local planning agreements. As stated in the White Paper, ““The Future of Air Transport””, the Government wish to see a continuation of that voluntary approach, but in addition, for the larger UK airports—those with more than 50,000 movements a year—we wish to see specific measures adopted either as an adaptation of existing schemes or when new mitigation schemes are brought forward.