Plane Justice has been granted a standing invitation to participate in Noise Management Board community group pre-planning meetings.
Set up by Gatwick in March 2016, the NMB is a consultative body comprised of county councils and community groups as well as Gatwick, the CAA, NATS and other consultative committees, with the stated objective of reducing the impact of Gatwick aircraft noise on the communities around the airport. The current Chair of the NMB is Bo Redeborn.
The founder membership of the NMB was originally determined in 2016, before Plane Justice was even formed, and is not currently due to be reviewed until later this year; We will be pressing to convert our current situation to full membership, given the current imbalance in the community group membership of the NMB.
Though there’s some controversy over the purpose and effectiveness of the NMB given its origins, composition and current restrictions on remit, we believe nevertheless it is likely to be a vital point of influence for communities around Gatwick into the future.
The Noise Management Board’s Code of Conduct and Terms of Reference can be found at these links on the Gatwick Airport website. A further document concluded in 2016 and due for review in 2018, the Community Consensus Agreement, specifies the 8 ‘community noise groups’ which are the only groups with current membership of the NMB and entitled to speak and vote in rotation at NMB meetings.
All NMB meetings are currently held in camera, with ad hoc observers invited at the behest of the NMB Chair. There is a public meeting normally held once a year.
Gatwick’s Final Action Plan gives details of how the NMB came to be established and who attended the initial planning meeting.