MORE than 5000 people have responded to a public consultation by Edinburgh Airport on plans to introduce a new flightpath over the capital.
A full analysis of the feedback is expected to be published at the end of October but it is understood that the responses are divided fairly evenly between those who are opposed to or concerned about the proposals and those who are either neutral to or in favour of the changes.
The 'Let's Go Further' survey, which closed at midnight on Monday, asked people what "local factors" should be taken into account in designing the potential route.
Today, the airport's director of communications, Gordon Robertson, confirmed that the consultation website had been viewed 80,000 times and attracted 5000 responses.
Mr Robertson said a full analysis would reveal "detail on sentiment and the geographical spread of the feedback responses" and "help us map the design of the proposals that we put forward".
He added: “We recognise that some people have very real concerns. The aim of the consultation process is to allow us to grow to meet the ever increasing demand on our runway at peak times while minimising disruption on the ground.”
In January, the airport will set out potential routes as “lines on the map” before launching the second phase of the public consultation.
Mr Robertson added: "As we did in the first stage of our Airspace Change Programme we will be open, transparent and upfront with everyone as to why we are putting these flightpath proposals forward."
Airport bosses say a third flightpath is needed to handle "strong levels of growth" in operations since 2013. Edinburgh Airport is currently the busiest in Scotland but its airspace has not been modernised since the 1970s. In July it recorded the busiest ever month at a Scottish airport with passenger traffic of more than 1.3 million.
However, a trial of a new flightpath over West Lothian was cut short in October 2015 after thousands of noise complaints from residents in communities including Uphall and Dechmont who claimed that they had been "brought to tears" by sound from low-flying planes.
Nonetheless, airport bosses later insisted that the trial had been a success, claiming that 40 per cent of the complaints had been lodged by the same five individuals while 57 per cent actually related to planes using the existing flightpaths - not the trial route.
When the airport launched its public consultation in June, bosses said they would "do all that we reasonably can to ensure that everyone has their say". A publicity drive saw 640,000 leaflets to local households and businesses, with an advertising campaign via television, local newspapers and social media.
However, they were left red-faced after a highly-publicised data loss which saw nearly 200 people's submissions accidentally erased during an upgrade of the consultation website between August 29 and September 2.
The consultation period was extended by one month with organisers appealing to anyone affected to re-submit their views. It is understood that the publicity surrounding the computer blunder sparked a surge in responses to the consultation, but campaigners said the error "invalidates the entire consultation process" and have appealed to the Civil Aviation Authority, which regulates flightpaths, to discount the results.
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