Government acts on years of complaints by residents and environmental groups
With the prospect of yet another general election in sight, the government is acting on various levels in areas that have been crying out for changes. One of these are the problems experienced by residents in Lisbon due to aircraft noise and movements, especially at nighttime.
The Ministry of Environment released a statement this weekend saying the government will be imposing new restrictions on night flights, and has launched a Less Noise Programme, financed with €10 million by the Environmental Fund.
The money will be going on “supporting acoustic insulation works in buildings affected by airborne noise” in the boroughs of Lisbon, Loures, Vila Franca de Xira and Almada”, says the statement, making no reference to the fact that all this work was meant to have been carried out years ago by ANA Airports Authority.
Instead, the release focuses on what will now start happening. There will be “interventions on facades, windows and frames of residential buildings with noise-sensitive uses”, and these interventions “will be implemented between this year and next”, albeit the responsibility for launching respective tenders lies with the various municipalities involved, all of which will be facing re-election this autumn.
Lusa reports that “according to the (ministry’s) note, the distribution of funding will be “proportionately” based on the number of buildings affected in each municipality, based on the mapping of noise levels to be prepared by the airport management entity, in collaboration with the National Civil Engineering Laboratory.
In addition to this program, last Friday’s Council of Ministers ordered National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC), the aviation sector regulator, to put into operation restrictions on night operations at the airport that were “recommended by the Night Flights Working Group, whose final report was delivered in July 2022”. In other words, ministers recommended finally adopting measures to alleviate citizens’ suffering almost three years after they were suggested, and following frequent protests and complaints by both civic society and environmental associations.
The upshot of these decisions is that restrictions will now kick in at 11pm (not 1am as is current practice) and run until 7am (not the current 5am cut-off).
Says the note, the Government also intends to “evaluate alternatives to the current take-off routes” to the north at the airport, with the aim of “reducing the population exposed to high noise levels”.
“The implementation of these restrictions will be carried out in strict compliance with all applicable national and European legislation, and in close coordination with the European Commission,” the document reads.
The Government reaffirms its “commitment to minimizing the impacts of noise resulting from the location of Humberto Delgado Airport in an area of high population density”, ensuring an improvement in the quality of life of citizens, until the transition to Luís de Camões Airport, at the Alcochete Shooting Range.
Lusa’s report concludes that “the councils of Lisbon, Loures and Vila Franca de Xira have been very critical of the increase in noise at the airport, which has been breaking annual passenger records” – but it seems to have taken the threat of an(other cliffhanger) election to see changes that will help the hundreds of thousands of people affected.
Source material: LUSA
