PROTESTERS have secured a flight path rethink by air traffic controllers today (Tuesday, July 22).
NATS has published the first feedback to its four-month public consultation on changes to the skies above the south east - including take-off and landing routes from Stansted Airport - and revealed both good and bad news for campaigners.
The document details the points raised and questions asked in more than 15,000 different responses to the Terminal Control North proposals - which would be the biggest aerial reorganisation in more than 30 years.
The suggested change to the Stansted westerly departures caused particular consternation to Thorley residents, who called for the route to be redrawn further away from Bishop's Stortford.
In its response, NATS said it had tried to avoid the largest concentrations of population in the town, Sawbridgeworth and Much Hadham.
However it conceded: "NATS will however consider whether alternative design options would be appropriate and feasible which realign the route, moving it further away from Bishop's Stortford, but towards Much Hadham."
NATS will also review the feasibility and benefits of holding aircraft bound for Stansted's westerly runway in a hold or queue at higher levels - above 7,000 ft - in a bid to cut noise and also limit the area over which planes may be seen descending to 4,000 ft.
The air traffic controllers will also look at holding easterly bound aircraft above 8,000ft, but warned safe separation and avoiding conflict with other flight paths was its top priority.
"Procedural avoidance" of Saffron Walden was also identified as an issue, with NATS now considering a move to route aircraft above the town at a height of over 5,000 ft. A suggested shift to the easterly Stansted departure route, moving it further north from the town, will also be pondered - provided it does not have a "significantly negative impact" on villages like Ashdon and Little Walden.
However, one issue where NATS is so far refusing to budge is SSE's suggestion that aircraft bound for Stansted should queue over the sea. The report said: "An efficient hold over the sea for Luton/Stansted arrivals would operate from 20,000ft upwards this would occupy up to three times the area of a low-level hold. This would interfere with many established air routes if positioned over the North Sea."
More details are available at
www.nats.co.uk