Complaints policy overview
Welcome to Cranfield Airport (Cranfield). We recognise that our location is close to residential areas and the nature of our aircraft operations means that residents will sometimes wish to complain about aircraft activity at Cranfield. We regularly engage with local stakeholders in an effort to understand and reduce the impact of aircraft noise on our neighbours.
This policy outlines how complaints are received and investigated by Cranfield, and the process for making a complaint.
How to complain
Aircraft noise complaints can be made in one of the following ways:
- By e-mail – You may e-mail your complaint to the following email address only: noisecomplaints@cranfield.ac.uk
- By letter – Letters should be addressed to: Cranfield Airport, Cranfield University, Medway 4 Cranfield, Bedford MK43 0FQ
Please note that complaints submitted by any method other than those specified above are not valid and will not be responded to. In particular, complaints should not be sent to personal email addresses of Cranfield employees.
In order to investigate an enquiry or complaint it is essential that we are provided with enough information. As a minimum, the following must be provided:
- Name and contact details;
- Address (including postcode); and
- In the case of a specific complaint, the date and time of the particular flight and any other information which may help us to identify the aircraft.
It is important to note that emailed screenshots of flight tracking software such as Flightradar24 do not provide sufficient information to allow us to investigate a complaint. Complaints received in this form will be disregarded and you will be directed to re-submit your complaint using one of the methods described above.
Handling of complaints
We aim to investigate and respond to all valid complaints within 10 working days, although this may not always be possible. Please note that we can only provide information on aircraft that operate from Cranfield. If your complaint relates to an aircraft that does not operate from Cranfield, we will suggest that you re-direct your complaint to the relevant airport.
In our response to any complaint received, we will attempt to provide as much detail as is reasonably practical. Each request for information or complaint will be considered on its own merit. While we wish to be as helpful as possible, we have to consider the resources available to us and the needs of other complainants to ensure fair and equal treatment. Sometimes we may need to take a view on whether or not an individual request for information will take a disproportionate amount of our time and resources, in which case we will explain why we are unable to provide some or all of the requested information.
All personal details received from an individual, such as names, emails and postal addresses, will be handled in accordance with our privacy policy.
Persistent complaints
We take all complaints seriously. However, we sometimes receive repeated complaints from the same source/person about the same subject matter. Where we have already explained the relevant policies and procedures to a complainant and we believe that we are unable to add anything further to enhance understanding, we will notify that complainant of our intention to continue to register and acknowledge future complaints on the same subject matter but that we will not provide a substantive response.
Where a complaint is notified on behalf of others who have already notified the subject matter to us directly and we have already provided a substantive response, we will acknowledge the subsequent complaint but we will not provide a further substantive response.
Abusive complaints
Cranfield will not respond to any complaints made that are of an abusive or threatening nature. Where we deem it necessary, such complaints will be handed to the police for their investigation.
Reporting
We will analyse complaints on a quarterly basis to establish trends, ensuring we can keep track of community concerns and where appropriate, improve our communication on these issues and look into possible mitigation actions.
