GLASGOW Airport is will pay out millions of pounds to sound proof hundreds homes near its runway.
A package of around £8million, worth around £10,000 per home, will be used to help pay for triple glazing and loft insulation.
Recent studies showed aircraft noise levels experienced at night by residents in some areas exceeded substantially the safe levels approved by the World Health Organisation.
However they were deemed not high enough to allow properties to qualify for compensation.
The airport’s owner, AGS Airports, has now agreed to reduce the qualifying level for support to homes experiencing the noise, from 66 decibels to 63.
The effort to improve the situation, particularly in Whitecrook, Clydebank, where the worst levels were recorded, has been driven by a long running campaign by SNP MSP, Gil Paterson.
Mr Paterson spent more than £3,000 of his own money into work carried out on one of his constituent’s homes, funding a triple-glazing unit and loft insulation.
Before the work was carried out, noise levels in the bedroom reached the new 63 decibels qualifying level.
The addition of loft insulation reduced the level to 50 decibels, and replacing double-glazing with triple-glazing further reduced the levels to 45 decibels.
A sound-check outside the house, however, recorded a noise of 84 decibels.
Mr Paterson said: “I thought this was incredibly important to improve the quality of life in a community that is one of the poorest in Scotland.
“It’s internationally recognised that sleep deprivation has a knock-on effect of additional ill health in communities.
“The risk of strokes, heart disease and cardiovascular disease is up to 30 per cent greater in higher noise areas.
He added: ‘Some of the houses are practically at the end of the runway.
“When a plane is coming in to land, it’s so close you feel as though you could reach out and touch it. I was fortunate that I was able to afford to put my own money into this research.’ He was assisted by sound engineer Ruben McLean, who gave his services for free to test noise levels.
Mr Paterson said: “I’m incredibly grateful to the couple that allowed me to use their home, to Ruben McLean for putting me right on everything to do with sound, and to the locals who supported our efforts.
“I also want to give AGS credit for reducing the noise level.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here