London Pleasure Gardens could be blighted by noise from City Airport
Posted on June 27, 2012
Airport also casts doubts over cable car’s long-term future
London’s Pleasure Gardens, due to open on Saturday, could be blighted by noise from aircraft using nearby London City Airport. That is the fear of HACAN East, which campaigns on behalf of residents living under flights paths in East London. The campaigners also claim that the airport could present problems for the new cable car across the Thames which opens to the public tomorrow. Local people continue to express fears that the cable car is too close to the airport for comfort.
HACAN East Chair John Stewart said: “The Pleasure Gardens will bring great fun to lots of people but there is a real danger a great day out will be spoilt by aircraft noise. The time has come to look again at whether City Airport is doing more harm than good to the local area.”
Local resident Alan Haughton, added, “There is no getting away from the fact that the cable car is within the airport’s crash zone. The 5,000 people who are expected to use the cable car every hour will have no idea they will be crash zone dummies testing out its effectiveness.”
HACAN East points out that the airport directly employs less than 500 people, of whom fewer than 200 come from the local borough of Newham – that’s less people than many supermarkets employ.
Stewart added: “62% of people using City Airport are on business flights. Most of them speed straight from the airport to the City, Docklands or the West End. They spent very little money locally. It is time to see how many new firms would be attracted to the area if it was not blighted by the airport.”
During the recent Mayoral elections Green Party candidate Jenny Jones, who finished third behind Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone, called for the airport to be shut down.
ENDS
Notes for editors
(1). http://www.londonpleasuregardens.com/find-us/
(2). It opens on Thursday 28th June
For further information contact:
John Stewart on 0207 7367 6641 or 07957385650
Alan Haughton on 07909 907395
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London City boss confirms airport may be sold
Posted on June 11, 2012
Declan Collier, the new boss of London City airport, has confirmed that the airport might be sold. In a wide-ranging interview with today’s Daily Telegraph (1), he said, “A sale or the introduction of new investors will be elements of what we look at."
Collier’s statement confirms rumours which have been circulating for some months that the airport will be put up for sale. The airport’s owners bought Gatwick and, in recent weeks, Edinburgh Airport from BAA. It is thought that they want to invest money in developing Gatwick.
HACAN East Chair John Stewart said, “The airport will continue to blight the local community whoever owns it. The 550 jobs it provides are outweighed by the problems it causes across wide areas of East and South East London. But we would hope that new owners will be more transparent in their dealings with local people than the current owners have been.”
ENDS
Notes for editors:
(1). The full interview can be found at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/9322616/Interview-Declan-Collier-chief-executive-of-London-City-Airport.html
For further information:
John Stewart on 0207 737 6641 or 07957385650
