New flight trials could spell more noise over Midhurst

Ian Hare, a Pulborough parish councillor and member of the Association of Parish Councils Aviation Group (APCAG), said the trials were due to be introduced next summer.

He said Gatwick claimed it was trialling the night flights to introduce new performance based nat sav and mitigate noise.

However, he said APCAG and concerned communities around Gatwick feared the move would create more noise.

He said it was possible Midhurst would be affected if planes followed a straight route towards Gatwick from the coast instead of sweeping up in an ‘S’ shaped flightpath.

“It is an efficient flightpath because it avoids the final turn towards Gatwick,” Mr Hare told town councillors at their annual meeting on Monday, May 14.

He asked them to consider taking a form of membership to APCAG to help fight the trial night flights.

“We are suspicious that this is the thin edge of the wedge,” he told the meeting.

“We are continuing to fight in terms of fairness for all communities to have a fair share of air traffic.

“We’d love to have you on board in some sort of membership capacity,” he said.