Love Thy Neighbour

By The Black Balaclava

Whilst I have watched with interest as Eastleigh police have been using social media to tweet and tell Eastleigh residents that we do not need to put up with anti social behaviour, that we are all part of a bigger community that needs to work together to make life better for everyone, one local resident is doing its very best to aggravate and disturb the peace of others yet seems to be above the law when it comes to anti social behaviour and being a good neighbour, and all with the blessing of Eastleigh Borough Council it would seem.

Last Sunday morning at 9.15am, I was woken from my much needed sleep by my small flat in Twyford Road, shaking to the sound of a jet engine at full thrust. My god that plane is noisy, I thought to myself. Yet the sound did not subside, in fact it continued to get louder and was accompanied by the sound of small children crying from the flats below me. Shocked that the sound was not going away I went out onto my balcony to join others who had also come out of their homes to see what was going on, many of whom were still in PJ’s and holding small children in their arms. It must have been one of the strangest sights to greet the speeding motorist and overweight lorries travelling along Twyford Road.

In unison we all searched the sky in vain to see what the noise was and if it would ever end. Well after almost ten minutes the sound stopped as abruptly as it had started. Nothing, just total silence, and like robots the people in the street all turned as one and went back into their homes and once again Sunday morning was back to its normal peaceful self again, well apart from the unusual Sunday morning Twitter post from Eastleigh residents asking what the hell was that noise, which included a very cross EastleighNews and a bemused Cllr. Keith Trenchard.

Now being a somewhat of a aircraft spotter and knowledgeable about such things, having completed many hours flying in and out of Popham airfield in various types of aircraft, I knew that this was no aircraft flying in the sky. It had to be coming from Southampton Airport and it had to be some sort of engine test taking place at this anti social hour.

That’s it, this just takes the piss I decided and bashed my computer keyboard to get the contact details for BAA Southampton so I could give them the same rude awaking as they had given me. No, I don’t want flight arrives, no not flight delays, no not lost luggage, no not the media team. Finally there was the main switch board number. Now fully awake and rather miffed, I called the number. “Hello and welcome to BAA Southampton, to help us deal with your call please listen to the following options and blah, blah, blah. Press 1 on your phone to hear flight arrives, press 2 for flight delays, press 3 for lost luggage”, and so on and so on, but no option to talk to a real person and make a complaint.

Now I was fast becoming apoplectic and decided to try the website again. After reading reams of  text about how many awards the airport had won for this and that, I finally found a number for complaints about noise. At last, this is it. Now feel my wrath, I muttered as I dialled the number. “Hello, thank you for calling BAA Southampton, please leave a message after the tone and we will get back to you.” Well I can assure you, I left a message alright, then retired back to my bed to try and return to my dream about Cllr. Bloom, a jar of peanut butter and some 3in1 oil.. It’s a long story, but that’s for another day.

Well time heals all sins so they say, so I soon forgot the disruption to my sleep and went about my so called normal life. Then out of the blue on Tuesday morning I received a call from (name removed by request) of BAA Southampton. They wanted to chat with me about my phone message I left on Sunday morning. They explained at length that the sound I and the community of Eastleigh had heard was a Flybe, DASH 8 Turbo Prop aircraft that was having a dual engine power test at the far end of the airfield after undergoing some maintenance that morning.

I asked (name removed by request), why BAA felt it necessary to carry out this full power test at 9.15am on a Sunday morning when most people in the town were trying to enjoy a lay in on the supposed day of rest.

“Well I fully understand that this test may have caused some disturbance to residents but we do have very strict restrictions in place to ensure that these test cause the minimum amount of noise to the surrounding area” they said, as if reading a very carefully prepared and well used script. OK, so if you have strict restriction in place, can you tell me where at the airport this test took place. “At the far north of the airfield” they replied. I see, so the end of the airport that is closest to the town and nearest to all the housing in Eastleigh.! So why on earth was this test carried out at such an early hour, a time that would cause the maximum amount of disruption to the surrounding area. “Well, errr, umm.. I don’t know. I would have to find out, but we do have very strict restrictions in place to ensure that these test cause the minimum amount of noise to the surrounding area, they expressed again, this has been agreed by Eastleigh Borough Council I can assure you”.

I was surprised to learn that EBC would allow such tests to take place so early on a Sunday morning and sent out emails to my local councillors for conformation and guess what.?? No such permission has been granted by EBC. Yes there are rules about aircraft movements, number of flights, times of operation and so on, but nothing to stop the airport from blasting their neighbours with the sound of two jet engines at full power at the top of Campbell Road for ten minutes.  

So, to BAA Southampton and Flybe, thank you for being such a considerate neighbour, it makes such a change from all the anti social ones that we have to put up with in Eastleigh.!!

To Eastleigh Borough Council, you have a meeting with BAA Southampton on the 13th of this month at 2pm, so how about you sort this out and tell our anti social neighbours to keep the bloody noise down and not to do these engine tests before 10am on Sunday mornings please.

If you have a complaint about noise from Southampton Airport, please call 023 8062 7070 or you can email sou_community@baa.com