Edinburgh Airport bosses plan to conduct a noise study underneath the proposed new flight path in Fife – but only after it has been approved.
Residents in Inverkeithing, Dalgety Bay and North Queensferry reacted furiously upon discovering the plans and that only one monitor would be available for the whole area.
A public meeting heard how planes flying on the new E7A route across the south of Fife would create as much noise as a “busy road side from 5 metres away” from 6am everyday.
Chiefs at the transport hub insisted that their current noise studies for the flight path were based on models provided by the Civil Aviation Authority.
Calls have also been made to extend the consultation period, which is due to end of June 21, as several residents reported not receiving information about the proposed airspace change.
Communications director Gordon Robertson told the public meeting in Inverkeithing that they weren’t obliged to carry out noise studies but would do so in good faith.
He explained: “We’re not legally obliged to have noise monitors but we have them.
“We have one in Cramond, we have one in Uphall and one in Broxburn along the flight path which are used really to pick up anomalies and used to allow us to model the noise footprints that we have.
“We give that data to the CAA and to the Scottish Government for its noise action plan.
“As part of the work of the noise advisory board, we purchased a number of temporary noise monitors and Dalgety Bay will be one of the areas that we put noise monitors in and that will be happening in the next couple of months.
“The noise study won’t be part of the consultation period. We’ll be doing the noise study once it’s finished.
“We use the noise footprints that are generated by the CAA, that we’re given, and those are how the footprints are measured.
“We’re doing this so we can get a baseline of data so we can know how the new route it performing.”
The meeting also heard how the airport hoped to be able to depart one aircraft every minute — prompting further fears that the already noisy 6am to 7am period would become unbearable.
SNP MP Douglas Chapman blasted the transport hub for their “disrespect” towards the general public in the affected area and their delay in holding a meeting in the community.
Deputy Scottish Labour leader Lesley Laird, who chaired the meeting, added: “I think there is a legitimate ask tonight which is to extend the consultation period.
“There is gaps in the information, there’s gaps in communities who don’t yet have that information and if we are embracing the spirit of consultation, then I think that’s a reasonable ask to be considered at this point in time.
“The reason that I asked for this meeting was I felt there was a load of issues that were not being adequately aired in some case, and in some cases not enough awareness about.
“If that’s a conversation that we need to keep having until we get the answers we need, then that’s what we need to do.”
