Noise Management Board | NMB

The Oversight Board is a meeting for industry, regulator, government, independent experts, London Gatwick’s Consultative Committee (GATCOM), Programme Steering Group Lead, and the Independent Community Representative to discuss NMB matters of interest.

The aims of the Oversight Board meetings are to:

-        Scrutinise community feedback and concerns, suggestions regarding the NMB Programme, thoughts/questions around any other topic, suggested subjects for briefing sessions and/or Chair’s surgeries. Hold to account the Community Assembly on any actions adopted by the Oversight Board.

-        Scrutinise the NMB Programme, including progress, issues and any actions needed to help the Programme Steering Group (PSG) drive a project forward. Hold to account the NMB Programme Steering Group on any actions adopted by the Oversight Board.

-        As the ultimate authority of the NMB, make collective decisions as and when required.

The Community Assembly is a meeting for community members local to London Gatwick to discuss matters of interest regarding aircraft noise.

The aims of the Community Assembly meetings are to:

-        Provide NMB Programme updates ahead of time and discuss feedback within the meetings.

-        Provide key messages of NaTMAG and GATCOM ahead of time and discuss feedback within the meetings.

-        Hold constructive discussions of community member opinions.

-        Provide briefing sessions and workshops on specific issues. 

The Programme Steering Group is for project team leads to meet with the London Gatwick Noise Management Programme Manager, and Oversight Board Executive Chair (as and when required), to discuss progress of projects, any issues arising, actions or help required, and agree Project Control Sheet updates to take to the Oversight Board. 

Jonathan Drew was appointed Chair of the Oversight Board in September 2024. He joined the previous iteration of the NMB in late 2019 as Chair of the Executive Board. Previous to his involvement with the NMB, Jonathan enjoyed a successful diplomatic career as a senior civil servant and British High Commissioner. Jonathan’s passion for NMB is twofold: forging and driving a common purpose around aviation noise for the common good from diverse stakeholders including communities; and influencing a wider industry sector to hear new voices, research new ideas and experiment with new procedures so that the impact of aviation noise for people around Gatwick is reduced.

Dr Cara Mulholland is a social impact and sustainability specialist, who promotes new, sustainable approaches to project management. Cara believes in a collaborative, process-led method to achieving the best overall value from complex projects and is well-versed in advocating for meaningful change. 

From the end of 2024, we have a group of subject matter experts who will be on hand to advise, oversee and scrutinise across all areas of the NMB. The EAG will sit on the Oversight Board, as well as attending Community Assembly meetings in an advisory capacity. The Experts will advise on their specific area of expertise, including that of airspace, pilot operations, and non-acoustic factors.

Rachel is a freelance Airspace Strategy consultant within the FASI-S arena. With over 35 years of aviation industry experience, Rachel’s career includes 25 years as an RAF Air Traffic Controller, taking her to various locations, often involving working alongside NATS, ending her service as the Senior Air Traffic Control Officer at London’s only RAF station. Upon leaving the military, Rachel joined the Noise and Performance Team at Heathrow Airport where she worked on and led multiple workstreams, including an Airspace Change Process. Throughout Rachel’s work, she works towards improving the understanding of airspace internally and externally, telling a complex, technical story appropriately for the audience. 

Douglas is an experienced commercial and military aviator who held senior airline management positions demonstrating responsibility and accountability to deliver operational efficiency, whilst maintaining safety as a core element. Douglas’s communication skills and inclusive approach to problem solving led to his appointment as Chair of Gatwick’s Airline Operator’s Committee, whilst also being appointed as a member of the CAA’s Voluntary Industry Resilience Group that subsequently published CAP 1515. Douglas was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by HM The Queen in 1992 for 'exceptional leadership skills'.

Paul holds a Chair in Environmental Management and Sustainability in the Faculty of Science and Engineering and is research lead for the Department of Natural Sciences at Manchester Metropolitan University. His research is primarily concerned with corporate responsibility and includes work on technology development, waste management stakeholder engagement, aircraft noise communication and management, sustainability reporting and carbon management and accounting. Paul was a lead academic on the €7.4 million H2020 project ANIMA, that sort to directly improve the lives of people adversely affected by aircraft noise, with the focus on better understanding all the factors contributing to noise annoyance and develop approaches to decision-making that involve noise-affected communities, thereby arriving at more acceptable outcomes. 

The schedule for 2025 is now fully set and can be found below. All meeting invitations, including Teams links where appropriate, will be sent out for the full meeting schedule upon membership registration.

For 2024, we will be holding onboarding sessions for all members across October and November, with meetings scheduled for the Community Assembly and Oversight Board at the end of December, to wrap up the year ahead of the regular schedule commencing in the New Year.

Documents:

• Meeting schedule

Registration for membership to the NMB is now open. If you would like to join the NMB as a new member, please fill out the appropriate form below, or contact us at GatwickNMB.uk@egis-group.com stating ‘New Member Enquiry’ in the subject line. If you would like more information on the signing up process, and what being a member involves, please view the New Member Information Document below.

If you are already a member and wish to register to attend the next Oversight Board Meeting, please fill out the appropriate form below, or contact us at GatwickNMB.uk@egis-group.com stating ‘CMA Attendee’ in the subject line.

Documents:

• New member enquiry form
• Process to signing up
• Oversight Board attendance request form

Our new term brings a new set of Ground Rules. These include full information on the governance and structure of the NMB as well as roles and responsibilities, our Code of Conduct, and our new Expectations Management Principles Framework (EMPF). The EMPF serves to hold all members to account, including the sponsor (London Gatwick).

We require all of our members, including industry, community, Government, regulator and Sponsor, to sign up to the Ground Rules in order to become a member. Whilst we understand that values, needs and interests differ greatly around what an airport provides, the impacts it has, the work it does, and what it stands for, this term will focus on meaningful discussions, productive collaboration, and realistic progress.

Documents:

• Ground Rules

All meeting agendas will be issued to members one week ahead of each meeting. The agenda, annotated with the key points discussed against each agenda item will be published here, within one week following a meeting. Any presentations that have been given during a meeting, will also be published here within the one-week post-meeting.

This year’s Airspace & Noise Annual Public Meeting took place on 25 September. The meeting offered local community members the chance to learn about London Gatwick’s noise mitigation initiatives, airport operations, and the work we do with local communities and stakeholders.

Results and insights from our recent Reduced Night Noise trial were shared, a demonstration of our interactive Airline Noise Performance Table was provided, and some of our airline colleagues gave their perspective on how they have been involved with these projects. The meeting was interactive, providing plenty of opportunity for our community members to ask questions of presenters and industry partners, and for all participants to have further conversations in breaktimes. It was lovely to see so many of our community members and industry colleagues in attendance, and great to meet our new Noise Management Board team.

For a look at the slides that were presented throughout the afternoon, please see below.

Documents:

• Annual Public Meeting Agenda
• Annual Public Meeting Presentation Slides
• Annual Public Meeting Summary

• FED Final Report