Originally Posted by
Manchester
I well recall Westland’s noise expert (Tony Pike, who earned my total respect) years ago neatly summarising all the considerable research into air/heliport noise as:
1. The volume of complaints is directly proportional to the price of the adjacent houses.
2. The only way to mitigate is to involve the neighbours. I’m still amazed that London City was built at all; I believe it was achieved in large part by neighbourly involvement such as giving jobs at the airport only to locals.
I'm not - it was part of a massive rejuvenation of about one fifth of London at the time - it was never going to be stopped
Proposal and construction [from Wiki]
The airport was
first proposed in 1981 by Reg Ward, who was Chief Executive of the newly formed London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) that was responsible for the regeneration of the area. He in turn discussed the proposal with chairman of John Mowlem & Co Sir Philip Beck and the idea of an airport for Docklands was born. By November of that year Mowlem and Bill Bryce of Brymon Airways had submitted an outline proposal to the LDDC for a Docklands STOLport city centre gateway.[11]
On 27 June 1982 Brymon's Captain Harry Gee landed a de Havilland Canada Dash 7 turboprop aircraft on Heron Quays, in the nearby West India Docks, in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the STOLport project. Later that year the LDDC published a feasibility study, an opinion poll amongst local residents showed a majority in favour of the development of the airport, and Mowlem submitted an application for planning permission.
Docklands was waste ground at that time - it was a 'Build it and they will come' project
The St Katharine Dock complex was still a building project at that time - and Westerly departures turn well to the east climbing
Construction began on the site shortly after permission was granted, with Charles, Prince of Wales laying the foundation stone of the terminal building, designed by R Seifert and Partners, on 2 May 1986. The first aircraft landed on 31 May 1987, with the first commercial services operating from 26 October 1987. Queen Elizabeth II officially opened London City Airport in November of the same year.[11]
I fear it is too late for Mr Farrand, but the message is to cuddle the complainers early and consistently, not to flounce out
Fun Fact
The British gangster movie - The Long Good Friday - was filmed in the area in 1979/1980 on the site of the runway - Bob Hoskins - a man who hated Thatcher and Hesleltine - but was proved to be very wrong about the general Docklands plans