EDINBURGH airport is facing a mounting chorus of angry protest over its “shambolic and flawed” plans for new flight paths to enable expansion.
MSPs, environmentalists and local residents are demanding that a public consultation now under way be scrapped. They accuse the airport of downplaying the noise and disruption that would be caused by the proposed new routes.
The airport is in the midst of a major consultation exercise on changes to the flight paths of the 300 or more planes that take off and land every day. A network of new routes is being proposed over West Lothian and Fife to the fury of local residents.
A series of public meeting in recent weeks have seen hundreds of people turn up to complain about the proposals. Airport representatives have been fiercely criticised for failing to give clear answers to questions.
Critics accuse the airport of using out-of-date population data from the 2011 census, and of failing to take account of new housing developments. The number of people likely to be disturbed by the flight paths has been underestimated, they say.
The Lothians Labour MP, Neil Findlay, has written to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) asking it to instruct Edinburgh airport to start again from scratch. “At all the packed public meetings I have attended people have repeatedly exposed the flaws in the process,” he told the Sunday Herald.
“The airport has used out-of-date data, misrepresented how many people will be impacted, systematically ignored how current capacity is way below the 2007 figures and lost 200 consultation responses.”
The consultation was “a shambolic and flawed process concerned solely with the profitability and value of Edinburgh airport”, he alleged.
Findlay was backed by the Scottish Greens. “The consultation has been highly flawed and should be scrapped immediately,” said Fife Green MSP and environment spokesman, Mark Ruskell.
The local campaign group, Edinburgh Airport Watch, claimed that the airport’s population numbers were wrong. “We struggle to find any coherent evidence-based justification for change at all,” said the group’s Helena Paul.
“We are deeply concerned that a health and environmental disaster is unfolding here for West Lothian, Fife, parts of Falkirk, East Lothian and Edinburgh. Yet no health or environmental impact assessment has been carried out into what these changes may mean for people in their homes, schools and businesses.”
Edinburgh airport stressed that the use of 2011 census data was a starting point that had been backed by auditors. “Further to this we are seeking updated and projected future population information to accurately capture population changes and future projections,” said an airport spokesman.
“We have attended dozens of drop-in sessions and meetings in communities across West Lothian, Fife and Edinburgh. These meetings have been a valuable listening exercise for us to gather feedback and opinions as well as sharing information with our neighbouring communities.”
The flight path plan, he said, “will allow us to maximise safety and handle the increasing demand for departures at peak times,” he said.
“Nothing is set in stone and we are calling on people to continue to offer responses to the consultation which will be accepting feedback up until and including Sunday May 7.”
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