A DECISION to create a new stacking system and flightpath close to Woodbridge for aircraft waiting to use Stansted airport has angered the town's residents.
A DECISION to create a new stacking system and flightpath close to Woodbridge for aircraft waiting to use Stansted airport has angered the town's residents.
The National Air Traffic Services (NATS) is re-routing air traffic from next month and a new holding area called the LAPRA hold will be created two miles east of Claydon.
This will act as an overflow to be used when the ABBOT hold over the Sudbury area is operating at maximum capacity.
The decision to introduce a new flightpath north of Ipswich and holding stack comes as Stansted starts to gear up for a second runway and a huge increase in air traffic.
Anti-aircraft campaigners in Constable Country are delighted they won a battle to move a route away from Dedham Vale - but the decision by NATS to put it in another Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty(ANOB) has angered Woodbridge.
The lowest airspace around Woodbridge has a base level of 10,500ft and town councillors are worried that there will be increased noise and disturbance.
Ben Redsell told the town council: ''Jet engines at 10,500ft make an impact and I think if they stack them at that level we will hear them, and when Stansted airport grows close to capacity we will hear more and more.''
Cllr Redsell added: ''Why should one AONB get it moved to another AONB where there are a lot more people living?''
Nigel Barratt, town and district councillor, said Stansted would have a capacity greater than Heathrow if the second runway was built and he said further details were required about the possible impact.
A spokesman for the district council said: ''The AONB in Suffolk Coastal had been looked at as part of the evaluation of the changes and overall the evaluation of the airspace changes determined there would not be a significant detrimental effect.
''Most of the route changes occur at heights greater than 25,000ft and should not impact on Suffolk Coastal District Council. The department for transport said the environmental section of the evaluation was considered acceptable and do not believe that there will be any substantial change to what people will see or hear as all the new routes are above 10,000ft.''
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