Aircraft Noise Damages Children's Development? (Saffron Walden Constituency Liberal Democrats)

Saffron Walden Constituency Liberal Democrats <info@saffronwaldenlibdems.org.uk>

Aircraft Noise Damages Children's Development?

September 9, 2005 11:28 PM

Three people with very large sign saying

Elfreda Tealby-Watson, Alan Dean and Peter Wilcock are just a few of your Lib Dem district councillors who are campaigning to stop the expansion of Stansted Airport

Commenting on the report published in renowned medical journal The Lancet into the effect of aircraft noise on children, Liberal Democrat District Councillor Martin Foley said "This report should be another nail in the coffin of the Labour Government plans to expand Stansted.

"We already know that aircraft emissions are causing significant climate change damage. We now have evidence the noise they are producing is damaging children's development. The Government must not allow unbridled expansion of the aviation industry.

"Unlike the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats are implacably opposed to expansion of runways in the South East."

"Exposure to high levels of aircraft noise could impair the development of reading and memory in children, suggests a study published this week. ... Increased exposure to aircraft noise was associated with increased stress and reduced quality of life. The authors conclude that schools exposed to high levels of aircraft noise are not healthy educational environments."