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Agenda

May 14, 2025 View on council website
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Summary

The London Heliport Consultative Group met to discuss the future of the group, helicopter movements, and noise complaints. The meeting also included the appointment of a chair and resident representatives, and the approval of minutes from a previous meeting. The Public reports pack contains all of the information that was available to the attendees.

Future of the London Heliport Consultative Group

The meeting was scheduled to discuss the future of the London Heliport Consultative Group, including the Heliport Proposed Constitution and Terms of Reference. According to the minutes of the previous meeting, the Heliport management intended to depart from the group due to disagreements on administration and membership structure. The Heliport believed it had the resources to run its own consultative committee, meeting at most twice a year.

The Heliport's representatives stated that their new committee would only include elected councillors and council officers, without a formal resident representative role. Residents would be expected to engage with their councillors, who would relay feedback to the committee.

At the previous meeting, Resident Representatives had expressed the view that their role was important, as they were able to identify issues from the residential perspectives which might otherwise have been missed.

Councillor John Locker, Wandsworth Borough Councillor for Thamesfield Ward, had requested that the Heliport’s proposed new committee’s constitution and terms of reference be circulated and that the Chair role continue to be rotated amongst councillors.

The Council believed that the current form of the heliport consultative group reflected the Department for Transport’s Guidance on how Airport Consultative Committees should operate, including the suggested membership of airport operators, the local authority, and others with an interest such as residence groups.

The Assistant Director had reminded attendees that the Group fell below the threshold which required the Heliport to hold a formal consultative committee, but he expressed appreciation for the Heliport’s historical involvement.

The Heliport representatives had agreed to provide a proposed governance document but noted that as they fell below the threshold for mandatory consultative committees, their governance document would be tailored to reflect how they saw the committee being best run. They added that whilst he accepted the area surrounding the London Heliport had been developed with residential communities, residents were aware they would be living near a Heliport and planning laws did not permit the penalisation of an existing airport because of the change in an area’s housing or commercial makeup.

The Chair had commented that one of the causes of increased noise from helicopter movements was the number of developments and the rebounding of noise from the walls of residential dwellings and he asked the Heliport if they were consulted on planning applications in the surrounding area to their site. The Heliport representatives advised that they were consulted on some applications, but this was dependent on the size and scale of a planning application and whether it reached the threshold for the Council to engage with the Heliport on a developmental proposal. They commented that a frequent issue was developers and estate agents intentionally obscuring the Heliport and its activities to clients, such as developers having drawn plans which excluded the Heliport from a map or estate agents arranging viewings during quiet periods of the Heliport to avoid interested buyers knowing the extent of noise from the Heliport at peak operating hours.

Helicopter Movements

The meeting was scheduled to receive information on helicopter movements for April 2023 to March 2025. The Helicopter Movements report included a breakdown of monthly helicopter movements by type (Category A, Category B, Exempt, Military, and N/A) and by exemption category (Medical, Police, and Other).

Helicopter Noise Complaints

The meeting was scheduled to note the noise complaints received by the Heliport and the actions taken in response, for August to November 2024. The Helicopter Noise Complaints report provided brief details of each complaint, the investigation, and the action taken.

At the previous meeting, on the topic of corner cutting by helicopters, a request was made that this be considered for further discussion either at a public meeting forum or through direct communication between representatives and the Heliport. Representatives also asked whether conversations could be held with Heathrow Special to also improve the dialogue around helicopter routing and the prevention of corner cutting by helicopters. The Heliport representatives stated they were on the Steering Board for the modernisation of London Airspace, which was undergoing a redesign over a seven-eight year process and he thought it would be possible to have controllers to speak to helicopters on those who strayed outside of the helicopter route, especially single engine helicopters who were required to stay in open and non-built up residential areas.

The Heliport representatives referred the Group to the noise complaints form on the Heliport’s website and asked representatives to remind those who contact them about to complaints to ensure as much detail as possible about the helicopter is provided to help the Heliport identify the user and the specific helicopter operator on the day the incident occurred.

Councillors relayed some of the types of complaints they received and asked what type of checks the Heliport undertook when a complaint was received.

It was then requested that an update be provided on the proposed Air Quality Study which had been discussed at previous meetings. The Heliport representatives confirmed that a contractor had been found but the funding would need to be joint between the councils and the Heliport as both a collaborative process and also to ensure the perception of a bias study was negated. Councillors asked if the three councils were aware of their expected contribution for the study to which the Heliport representatives confirmed they had been informed of their financial expectations for the study to take place. The Secretary noted that Wandsworth had agreed informally to fund their share, and dialogue would now need to take place with Hammersmith and Fulham Council and Kensington and Chelsea Council to seek their support and financial contribution to the study.

Other Business

The Agenda frontsheet also indicates that the meeting was scheduled to:

  • Appoint a Chair of the London Heliport Consultative Group for the 2025/2026 municipal year.
  • Consider the nominations for the Resident Representative roles for the 2025/2026 municipal year.
  • Approve the minutes of the London Heliport Consultative Group meeting held on the 22nd July 2024. The draft minutes are available to view as LHCG Draft Minutes - 220724.

Attendees

Councillor Paul Alexander
Profile image for Councillor Jamie Colclough
Councillor Jamie Colclough  Labour •  St Mary's
Profile image for CouncillorCaroline de La Soujeole
CouncillorCaroline de La Soujeole  Conservative •  St Mary's
Councillor Sonia Zvedeniuk
Jon Evans
Michael Flowers

Topics

No topics have been identified for this meeting yet.

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