TRANSFORMING LONDON STANSTED AIRPORT 35+ PLANNING APPLICATION Appendix 7.5 Complaints Analysis Stansted Airport 35+ Planning Application Complaints Analysis: Noise Technical Appendix 7.5 Stansted Airport 35+ Planning Application Complaints Analysis: Noise Technical Appendix 7.5 Assessing the incidence and causes of complaints about noise from operations at Stansted Airport Stansted Airport Ltd. Enterprise House Bassingbourne Road London Stansted Airport Stansted CM24 1QW Revision Description Date Prepared Approved - Issue 1 12 February 2018 Vernon Cole Ian Yates This report and associated surveys have been prepared and undertaken for the private and confidential use of our client only. If any third party whatsoever comes into possession of this report, they rely on it at their own risk and Cole Jarman Limited accepts no duty or responsibility (including in negligence) to any such third party. Cole Jarman Limited Reg. in England and Wales No. 7102436 [email protected] www.colejarman.com Head Office +44 (0)1932 829007 Manchester Office +44 (0)161 2093644 John Cree House, 24B High Street, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 1TN Peter House, 1 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5AN Complaints Analysis: Noise Table of Contents Record Keeping 3 1 Communication 3 2 Annual Reports 4 Complaints Statistics 5 3 Level of Annual Complaints 5 4 Causes of Complaints 6 Geographic Considerations 9 5 Complaints Locations 9 Commentary 16 6 Noise Level vs. Incidence of Complaints 16 7 Number of Complainants 17 8 2016 Complaints Increase 18 Conclusions 22 9 Implications for Noise Study 22 End of Section Page 2 Stansted Airport 35+ Planning Application Table of Contents Technical Appendix 7.5/- // 12 February 2018 Complaints Analysis: Noise Record Keeping 1 Communication 1.1 Complaints are made direct to Stansted Airport by members of the public. The predominant method of communication is via e-mail and the actual breakdown of methods of communication in 2015 and 2016 is set out below. 2016 2015 Contact Method number % number % e-mail 1818 89.8 344 67.0 telephone 63 3.1 115 22.4 web 138 6.9 51 10.0 letter 5 0.2 3 0.6 TOTAL 2024 513 T1 Means of communicating noise complaints to Stansted Airport 1.2 It should be noted that the number of communications is not the same as the number of complaints, the latter being logged individually even if more than one is made in a single communication. 1.3 Stansted Airport have a published noise complaints handling policy, which can be downloaded at: http://mag-umbraco-media-live.s3.amazonaws.com/1017/stansted-complaints-handling- policy.pdf Page 3 Stansted Airport 35+ Planning Application Record Keeping Technical Appendix 7.5/- // 12 February 2018 Complaints Analysis: Noise 2 Annual Reports 2.1 At the end of each year, Stansted Airport prepares a Noise Complaints Analysis Report. 2.2 The report breaks down complaints by: • month, • time period (day, morning shoulder, evening shoulder and core night), • location (subdivided into the 4 time periods), • nature of complaints, • origin of complaints. 2.3 The analysis identifies the number of complainants and those individuals from which the highest number of complaints are received. It goes on to assess the root cause of the complaints and also the nature of the operations being undertaken where specific complaints can be correlated with specific movements. 2.4 Where possible the report draws conclusions as to primary causes of complaints and any change in the nature of complaints compared to previous years. 2.5 The 2016 Complaints Analysis report can be downloaded at: http://mag-umbraco-media-live.s3.amazonaws.com/5346600/noise-complaints-report- 2016.pdf Page 4 Stansted Airport 35+ Planning Application Record Keeping Technical Appendix 7.5/- // 12 February 2018 Complaints Analysis: Noise Complaints Statistics 3 Level of Annual Complaints 3.1 The level of complaints and number of complainants for each of the last 12 years is set out below. For reference, the annual number of aircraft movements and the area of the 57 dB LAeq,16h contour generated by the ERCD ANCON model is also shown for each year. No. of No. of No. of 57 dBLAeq,16h Year Complaints Complainants Movements contour area 2005 19,435 2,312 193,500 27.4 2006 13,956 2,294 206,700 29.3 2007 5,347 1,612 208,500 30.8 2008 2,305 914 193,300 29.1 2009 2,125 666 167,800 24.1 2010 1,745 545 155,150 22.5 2011 881 368 148,350 21.2 2012 742 305 143,330 21.1 2013 907 340 146,000 20.0 2014 1022 427 157,000 21.6 2015 747 245 169,000 23.5 2016 4170 670 180,500 24.3 T2 Trend in level of annual complaints 3.2 The trend exhibits significant declines in the number of both complaints and complainants between 2005 and 2007, followed by a more gradual reduction to 2011. After this year both measures settled at reasonably steady values until 2016. Page 5 Stansted Airport 35+ Planning Application Complaints Statistics Technical Appendix 7.5/- // 12 February 2018 Complaints Analysis: Noise 3.3 Between 2005 and 2007 the very high number of complaints is believed to reflect a degree of anxiety in the community regarding the implications of a second runway application. As this was subsequently withdrawn, the complaints record from 2008 onwards can be considered to be more reflective of the community response to typical operating conditions. 3.4 The relationship between number of complaints and number of movements is not consistent. In some years an increase in movement numbers leads to an increase in complaints, whereas in other years, the reverse is true. 3.5 A similar finding holds for number of complaints compared to the area affected by noise, in this case represented by the 57 dB LAeq,16h contour. There is no obvious causal relationship between overall noise levels and number of complaints. In this regard it is believed that two factors are at play: • Noise level changes are gradual. The level of aircraft operations and the associated noise levels increase over the year rather than undergoing a step change at any given point in time. • Noise Level changes are relatively small. Between 2009 and 2016 the year on year change in the 57 dB contour area is not greater than 10%, whether increasing or decreasing. Similarly, between 2005 and 2008, although there is a significant year on year decrease in the number of complaints, the corresponding change in 57 dB contour is again less than 10%, whether increasing or decreasing. 3.6 The uptick in 2016 is noteworthy and potential reasons for this explored in Section 8 of this Technical Appendix. 4 Causes of Complaints 4.1 The nature of complaints and how these have varied over the last 5 years are set out in Table T3 below. Page 6 Stansted Airport 35+ Planning Application Complaints Statistics Technical Appendix 7.5/- // 12 February 2018 Complaints Analysis: Noise Nature of complaint 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Aircraft noise 42% 53% 45% 20% 37% Aircraft too low 29% 19% 21% 21% 18% Aircraft off track 19% 20% 20% 35% 11% Increased flights 3% 3% 5% 5% 21% Helicopters <1% <1% 3% 9% 9% Night/early morning 4% 2% 4% 9% 4% Arrivals <1% <1% <1% <1% <1% Ground noise 1% <1% 1% <1% <1% Other (odour, works etc.) <1% <1% <1% <1% <1% TOTAL Complaints 742 907 1,022 747 4,170 T3 Variation in the root cause of complaints registered over the last 5 years. 4.2 While categorisation of complaints in this manner is helpful, it does not mean that causes can be perfectly disaggregated one from the other. If, for example, aircraft are perceived to be flying too low or off track, it may be the higher than anticipated noise levels associated with the occurrence that trigger the observation and the complaint. However, taking the data in the table above at face value, observations are: • Aircraft noise has historically been the major cause of complaints, although within this broad category the data set out above do not allow generalisation on whether more disturbance is caused by long term average noise levels or individual noisy events. The analysis of complaints by location, addressed in the next section, is more helpful in this regard. • The next significant categories deal with where an aircraft is compared to where a complainant might expect it to be. Flying too low or off track are both sources of concern, and taken together can be considered to be about as important as aircraft noise in terms of complaint generation. Page 7 Stansted Airport 35+ Planning Application Complaints Statistics Technical Appendix 7.5/- // 12 February 2018 Complaints Analysis: Noise • In 2016, there is much greater proportion of complaints about increased flights than in previous years. Operational factors unique to that year are addressed in Section 8 of this technical appendix. • Factors that lead to complaints amounting to less than 10% of the total can be considered to have a more restricted geographical impact than the major complaints categories: arrivals tend to affect those under the relatively narrow approach paths, while ground noise, helicopter activity and even night or early morning operations tend to affect those living closest to the airport. Page 8 Stansted Airport 35+ Planning Application Complaints Statistics Technical Appendix 7.5/- // 12 February 2018 Complaints Analysis: Noise Geographic Considerations 5 Complaints Locations 5.1 The breakdown of the incidence of complaints by location are set out below in Table T4. The intention behind presenting these data is to determine whether there are any trends or notable changes year on year that require further investigation.