Land owners around the combat aircraft base on Ørlandet in Trøndelag have taken legal action against the state. They believe their properties have been reduced in value after the new fighter air base on Ørlandet has been built. The new fighter type F-35 makes a lot of noise, and most of the new fighters are stationed here. Pilot and plane ready for takeoff from Ørlandet during the Arctic Challenge exercise this year. Photo: Ingrid Lindgaard Stranden / news This means many planes in the air that will both take off and land. Landowners on Ørlandet believe that the noise has become so much worse than before that they have suffered a loss in value of their properties. They were partially successful in this with the verdict from the Trøndelag district court in June. But now both the state and some of the landowners have appealed the case to the Court of Appeal. – It was a comprehensive judgment, and we think we have tried out a lot of what we wanted to highlight. But now there will be an opportunity to review important points again, says lawyer Arild Paulsen from the law firm Simonsen Vogt Wiig. He represents around two hundred of the landowners. Here, senior engineer at Forsvarsbygg, Hege Aamodt, measures noise during a takeoff on Ørlandet in April. The court spent several days inspecting the properties around the base. Photo: Ingrid Lindgaard Stranden / news More than fifty aircraft to come in the end In total, Norway has ordered 52 F-35 fighters from the supplier Lockheed Martin in the USA. The planes are to be fully operational in this country from 2025. This means that there will still be new planes to Ørlandet. Which in turn can mean more military activity and aircraft noise for people in the area. The landowners refer, among other things, to the Neighborhood Act and that one must not cause unreasonable or unnecessary inconvenience to neighboring property. An important question during the trial was whether the noise deterioration was to be expected. That is, if this was something the neighbors could expect when they established themselves around the airport. Attorney Paulsen believes it would be good to get the Court of Appeal’s assessment of this. – We believe that such noise deterioration is not to be expected, and consequently that the landowners are entitled to compensation according to the main provision, and not just the exception provision in paragraph two of the Neighborhood Act. The new F-35 fighters have a different sound than the old F-16. Now the disagreement about noise and damages ends up in the Court of Appeal. Photo: Ingrid Lindgaard Stranden / news Someone represented everyone As the case affects so many houses and people, 16 properties were selected to represent the landowners. These were ten ordinary properties and six agricultural properties. In the judgment from the district court, five out of ten owners of ordinary properties have received fairly large amounts in compensation. This applies to those with the most noise deterioration. The requirements were around NOK 700,000–800,000 per property on average. In the damages awarded by the district court, there are large individual differences in the amounts. There are amounts ranging from NOK 500,000 to NOK 3 million. Of the six agricultural properties that represented farms during the trial, three have received compensation. The state has now appealed against eight who received compensation. The landowners have appealed for six who did not receive compensation. – We believe that the district court’s judgment is wrong for the eight that we have appealed. At the same time, we believe it was right for the district court to acquit the state of the six who did not receive compensation, says lawyer Håvard H. Holdø at the Government Attorney. The government attorney conducts the case for the Ministry of Defence. It is uncertain when the case will come before the Court of Appeal. This will probably not happen before the first part of 2024. So far, 40 such F-35 fighters have arrived in Norway. The vast majority are stationed and fly out from Ørlandet. Photo: Ingrid Lindgaard Stranden / no
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Both landowners and the state are appealing the verdict on aircraft noise from the F35 at Ørland fighter base – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
