9 November 2006 - More than 1,500 homes will be blighted by aircraft noise if Southampton Airport is allowed to massively expand passenger numbers over the next decade, the airport’s owner BAA has admitted.

According to BAA’s revised long-term plan for Southampton Airport , 1,550 homes will be forced to endure average noise levels higher than those recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Local Green Party Euro-MP Caroline Lucas said the figures show how expanding flight traffic at Southampton Airport would “hit the community hard”.

Dr Lucas said: “Aviation is the fastest-growing source of the greenhouse gas emissions which are fuelling runaway climate change, and we must halt the planned expansion of the industry if we are to have any chance of cutting these emissions sufficiently to prevent global catastrophe, as the Stern report reminded us just last week.

“But this report reveals the extent to which growth at Southampton Airport is having an immediate negative impact on the surrounding community too – and connects the local and environmental arguments for halting expansion at the site.”

BAA wants to nearly double passenger numbers using the airport annually from 1.84m last year to some 3m by 2015. The report, which BAA posted on its website this week, admits that this expansion will mean 250 nearby homes are exposed to average aircraft noise levels of 63 decibels – and 1,300 subject to levels of 57 dB.

Dr Lucas is a member of the European Parliament’s influential Environment Committee, and the author of a package of proposals to tackle aviation’s contribution to climate change – to include an emissions-only trading scheme – which was overwhelmingly adopted by MEPs earlier this year.

She added: “The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that high levels of noise associated with airports can be a breach of human rights – yet BAA is planning to force hundreds its neighbours to endure exactly that.

“The WHO recommends that average noise levels should be no higher than 55 dB – and Southampton Airport must halt its expansion plans and ensure that neighbourhood noise pollution is kept below this level."

ENDS