For a night rest period without planes at Toulouse-Blagnac airport
On Wednesday March 23, the public consultation on the environmental noise prevention plan (PPBE) at Toulouse Blagnac airport. Residents of the Pink City can present their observations online. The opportunity for the members of the Collective against air pollution in the Toulouse conurbation (CCNAAT) to recall that airborne noise has increased and to encourage residents to request the observation of a nocturnal rest period without aircraft from 11:30 p.m. at 6am. The Journal Toulousain gives them the floor.
For years, the growth of the aviation sector seems limitless, present or future technological advances are touted as the solutions to the health problem of aircraft noise levels, air pollution and contribution to global warming (CO2 and contrails). In Toulouse, “Airbus city”, where any decision is weighed according to the possible or totally imaginary negative impact on the activity of the manufacturers (Airbus and ATR) the truth is hard to come by.
First some facts:
- The airborne noise level doubled in the city of Toulouse between 2010 and 2017 (measurement at La Cépière and Fontaine-Lestang, over 24 hours or at night: 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.)
- The population subject to nocturnal noise greater than or equal to 50 dB (threshold indicated in French regulations) has increased from just over 8,000 people at the end of the 2000s to more than 14,000 in 2017, an increase of 73 % (figures from the DGAC / CSB 2017)
- The surface “sterilized” by the presence of Toulouse-Blagnac airport (i.e. exposed to noise greater than or equal to 55dB over 24 hours and where urban planning constraints apply) has reached the maximum extension considering for 2030… And this, from 2017, 13 years ahead of schedule, and “only” 100,000 aircraft movements (takeoffs or landings) instead of the 154,000 authorized
So yes, airborne noise has increased in the Toulouse conurbation in the last 10 years and this increase has been strong day and night. Many are the inhabitants of our agglomeration who have noticed the deterioration of their living conditions and the damage to their health by these noise peaks so characteristic of the passage of an airplane. These are not, with all due respect to simplistic minds, these “permanent complainers” who “have settled” under the planes, but ordinary citizens for many of them have been deployed for a long time who want to understand why and for whom they are “sacrificed”. The observation is so clear that the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) recognizes the same by setting the objective of the next Plan for the Prevention of Noise in the Environment (PPBE) to reduce nighttime noise and return to the situation of 2010.
The DGAC claims to achieve quickly and with certainty a difficult and ambitious public health objective, with measures that only work self-regulation and the good will of the operators; moreover, these measures are strictly identical to those implemented in 2010 (with the same noise reduction promises) and they were a failure.
For the Collective against aerial nuisances of the Toulouse conurbation (CCNAAT) and the associations of local residents, the measures proposed by the DGAC cannot in any way guarantee the achievement of the objective of reducing populations subject to an excessive level of nocturnal noise for the simple and good reason that they does not limit the number of night flights (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.). Only the establishment ofa period “without planes” between 11:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. together with noise limitation commitments for the hours before and after this period would give a sufficiently clear and effective signal to restore the Lost trust between Toulouse-Blagnac airport and its residents.
An “anti-economic” measure, claim the tenants of limitless growth in the air sector. We affirm that on the contrary, the establishment of a “no planes” period between 11:30 p.m. does not schedule any test flights or deliveries by Beluga (fortunately).
The Toulouse omerta on the air
I’absence of the measure for the study of a “aircraft-free” period (curfew) in the PPBE project proposed to the vote of the Consultative Commission for the Environment (CCE) on March 1, 2022n and put to consultation last week, is a matter of manipulation because the study request has been submitted to the DGAC since 2019 and a written petition from the members of the Environmental Advisory Committee was sent to the prefecture during the drafting of the document. This process is significant of the maneuvers of a sector of activity blocked in its certainties and which respects the results of a vote only when it is favorable to it. The Covid-19 and global warming crises require changes in methods and the end ofa form of Toulouse omerta on the air.
A balanced approach impact study must take place in 2022, to assess the measures proposed to the PPBE and their ability to achieve the noise reduction objectives, and even if the DGAC will again be at work (choice of subcontractor , drafting specifications), we ask Toulouse residents to use the public consultation that is starting to express their doubts about the effectiveness of the PPBE measures proposed and the need to study measures for the total abolition of flights (excluding medical and security flights) between 11:30 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Chantal Beer-Seeker,
President of the Collective against air pollution in the Toulouse conurbation (CCNAAT)
the Collective against air pollution in the Toulouse conurbation (CCNAAT) brings together individuals and associations from several districts of Toulouse and municipalities of the agglomeration, local federations which oppose the increase in air traffic at Toulouse-Blagnac airport, a source of noise and atmospheric pollution