London Southend Airport (SEN) has received an order from the Upper Tribunal’s Lands Chamber to reimburse the owners of neighbouring houses over the noise produced by a runway extension.
BBC reported that this comes after several property holders near the airport claimed that the value of their properties reduced after the commencement of the extension in 2012.
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The airport denied these claims. However, nine of them were upheld by the Upper Tribunal’s Lands Chamber, which instructed the airport to pay out a total sum of $119,223 (£86,500).
After 190 former and current homeowners near the airport submitted their claims under the Land Compensation Act 1973, around ten exemplar cases were considered by the court in London, UK.
The claimants said that their houses’ worth had been diminished by ‘physical factors caused by the use of the runway extension, and in particular by the increased noise they experience from the larger aircraft which now take off and land’.
Thereafter, the airport disagreed with the claims that the value of any of the main properties had been ‘diminished by relevant physical factors resulting from the use of the runway extension and it values each of the claims at nil’.
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By GlobalDataIn its ruling, the tribunal mentioned that the daytime noise data from 2011 to 2014 revealed that the already noisy environment got noisier.
The tribunal said: “We are satisfied from the evidence of fact, the expert noise evidence and our site inspection that the use of the runway extension has caused depreciation in the value of most of the lead properties due to noise.”
The tribunal ordered the airport to make payments extending from $5,513 to $23,431 (£4,000 to £17,000) relating to nine homes. On the other hand, the tribunal rejected a claim for a tenth property.
BBC quoted a spokesman for the airport as saying: “London Southend Airport respects the decision of the independent judicial tribunal. The airport takes its role in the community extremely seriously and will continue to engage with residents so that we can all enjoy a sustainable future founded on responsible airport operations and creating long-term job opportunities.”
