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Civil Aviation Bill

If my hon. Friend will bear with me, I will come to those issues. Lords amendment No. 5 removes subsection (2) of clause 2, which would enable a future Secretary of State to impose restrictions that limited cumulative amounts of noise caused by an aircraft using a designated airport. Such restrictions could apply without specifying a maximum number of movements. The restriction could, for example, take the form of noise quotas or a limiting noise contour area. The Secretary of State would not be prevented from continuing to set movement limits, but could consider alternatives—for instance, if they provided a more effective incentive to use quieter aircraft. Our intention is not to prevent future Governments from setting stringent controls on night flying at the airports, or from setting movement limits as part of those controls; it is simply to ensure that they have the power to set restrictions in the most effective way possible, whatever the future circumstances may be.