'I live near Southend Airport - it's so noisy I thought about selling my house'

Southend Airport is not like the other big airports in the London circle. For one, it is considerably smaller, but it also sits right next to many residential homes on the northern edge of the city. For many, the airport has been seen as a business jewel for the borough, seeing huge successes in the years leading up to the Covid pandemic.

In 2019, the airport had just over two million passengers, before a pandemic-induced slump to 147,000 between 2020 and 2021. But this week, CEO John Upton announced the airport was "back" after a "rough" few years with Covid when they announced easyJet would return its base there and introduce six new flight destinations from summer 2025.

Following the announcement on Thursday (May 16), EssexLive visited Wells Avenue, which sits just to the south of the airport runway, to find out what life is like for residents who live there. This road has made headlines before, when in 2019 resident Janet Marchant shared how the revamped taxiway for the runway meant planes were travelling in front of her garden multiple times a day, making her life a "nightmare".

Read more: Southend Airport to get six new flight routes in 2025 including Pisa, Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco

Read more: 130 new jobs announced at Southend Airport as easyJet expands

One couple which share this sentiment when we spoke with them were Kevin and Carol Bonnett, who have lived on the road since 1987. The couple tell us they have been in heated discussions with the airport for many years, and claim things became especially bad in 2019 when they were forced to sleep on a mattress in one of their windowless downstairs rooms due to the noise from the airport into their bedroom.

'2019 was mad, we were woken up all the time'

The couple have constant concerns about the level of noise coming from the planes taxing around the runways, including events hosted by the Vulcan Restoration Trust where the historic XL426 Royal Air Force jet, which was in service from 1962 to 1986, taxis around the airport site. EssexLive were shown a video of the couple's property where the sound from the Vulcan, plus another aircraft were recorded. In one instance, the noise was so cloud is distorted the sound feedback on the camera.

Mr Bonnett said: "It was mad in 2019 when they were doing 2.1 to 2.2 million passengers a year and then had the Amazon cargo flights. Those have stopped but the airport have said if they find someone else they would start there again. During that time we were woken at night four times a night."

"With the S106 agreement, what they did at the time was [they] would get 100-seat aircrafts. They didn't expect it to reach two million passengers until 2023. But there we were in 2019 already getting 200-seaters."

The S106 agreement was a deed created in 2010 about the use of the land at Southend Airport. The airport additionally set up a noise complaints forum where residents could report their issues with the sound coming from the site. But Mr Bonnett said be believes the S106 does not reflect the amount of activity now going on in the airport, claiming that, along with the forum, is "box-ticking". Southend Airport have said they remain responsible for and compliant with the S106 agreement and that the Community Noise Forum meets up to four times a year to discuss noise issues.

Mr Bonnett said he is also unsure of the intentions of new majority stake holder Carlyle, who agreed to settle a £193m debt from former owners Esken for an 82.5 per cent stake. He said before he was tragically killed, Southend West MP Sir David Amess had been on his and other residents' side about noise and disruption from the airport. Since Anna Firth took over as MP, they have also had meetings with her and the airport, but Mr Bonnett said his concerns aren't being listened to, and that the airport isn't being a good neighbour.

He said: "The community noise forum is all about ticking boxes. It doesn't allow you to be a member unless you sign to be in full agreement with the S106 agreement. Nothing is ever achieved. It's all about the airport's future, their plans and their growth."

He continued: "One Champions League final, we had 14 private jets coming in overnight. We didn't get a wink of sleep all night. We slept in a mattress on the other side of the house for a whole year. We couldn't sleep in the bedroom due to the noise coming from night flights. We have had hell here since 2018."

On the new announcement for next year, Mr Bonnett said: "We're contemplating selling up and what to do. I could not go back to how it was in 2019. If they're going to chuck miles more planes into this airport it needs the infastructure around here. They want to keep the city status, they want to keep the business and the airport. I'm not an advocate for turning it into a housing estate, but it would be a better use than the airport."

Despite all their issues with the airport, the noise and fumes from the aircraft, the couple acknowledged they were in the minority and many people in Southend like the airport. Mr Bonnett added: "95 per cent of the town want the airport, we get it, we're in the minority. But play the white man; if we are having to abide by the 106 then they should stick with the 106."

Mrs Bonnett added: "If they want to turn it into a big international airport they need to consider us as well."

'Living next to the A127 is far worse than living here'

For other Wells Avenue residents however, they had many positive things to say about being Southend Airport's neighbour. Jean Dorkin has lived in the road for the past 30 years, and says she has never had an issue with the planes travelling by. She said: "It's like living near a railway, you get used to it. They never go over the top of us, if that was the case it would be different."

Ms Dorkin said she sometimes sees what happens with the plane engines from her garden, and there are many times in the year where it is quieter for the road. Steve Collins moved to the road when he was five-years-old, and has "grown up with the airport". He said: "Before Covid they were doing the night flights, and I did get woken up a couple of times. But we have double glazing, and they taxi down the runway but we also have big bushes. Even when they were quiet they would finish at a certain time."

Fellow neighbour Hayley Lord said she "loves" living so close to the airport. She said: "It's so much easier [to go away]. It's 13 minutes to walk there down the road, [the planes] don't bother me. I like it, I've been here 12 years."

Dean Levy said the only issue he has had with the airport was during one period where they moved the cleaning and spraying of the planes into one of the warehouses near his home. However this was moved again when he raised it with the airport. He said: "The smell was bad and [went] all night. We complained quite a bit and then the moved back to their original place."

Bar this, Mr Levy said he's had no issues with the airport, adding that he moved to Wells Avenue "knowing it was there". He said: "But since Covid the airport hasn't been that busy. We moved from the A127 and it was worse on the A127. When it rained, all you heard were the cars."

A final resident we spoke to also said he "liked it" living near the airport, and that he was a guy who "didn't mind the smell of jet fuel".

'Our new planes will be 50% quieter than the ones before'

At the announcement of the six new easyJet flight routes from Southend Airport on Thursday, EssexLive asked both CEO John Upton and easyJet UK Country Manager Ali Gayward on whether they had consulted residents living nearby and will continue to consult them on potential disruption the new flights could cause them.

John Upton said: "We talk to our local residents regularly, we one of only four airports in the UK to have a community noise forum, so we regularly engage with residents around the area. We talk to them about what we're doing, the steps we take, and they give plenty of feedback, they're not shy of coming forward. Where we can, we will make changes.

"We will do our best to mitigate noise, noise impact and how we can make their lives as enjoyable as possible whilst living next to - I'm delighted to say - an increasingly busy airport, which many of those residents will fly from and enjoy their trips with."

Ali Gayward said: "The aircraft that we're basing here in Southend are the Air Bus A320neo aircrafts, which are 15 per cent fewer emissions, but most significantly they are 50 per cent quieter for take-off and landing than the traditional aircraft." Ms Gayward said these new aircrafts will assist with noise complaints generally.

Southend Airport additionally stated that they have been a successful commercial and cargo airport since the 1950s. A spokesman said: "London Southend Airport recognises the impact, both positive and negative, of its operations on its closest neighbours and so we continue to listen and take action to improve, wherever there is possible opportunity; particularly, through our Community Noise Forum (CNF).

"The London Southend Airport CNF meets on a regular basis, up to four times a year, and was formed to establish, create and maintain an impartial pathway for local communities to engage with the airport, and to increase trust, transparency and clarity on noise issues associated with London Southend Airport, led by an independent Chair.

"London Southend is one of only four UK airports who have a Community Noise Forum. We are responsible and remain compliant with the S106 controls under which we, and the Vulcan Restoration Trust, operate."