A score of councils opposed to the expansion of Heathrow have called for a new study into attitudes to aircraft noise.
The 20 councils in the 2M Group - which represent a combined population of 5 million - say the research is needed before making decisions on airport capacity, and has republished the ANASE study which was rejected by the Government in 2007.
ANASE found that the official method for measuring community annoyance at aircraft noise did not take account of rising numbers of aircraft.
Leader of Wandsworth LBC, a member of 2M, Ravi Govindia, said: ‘The problem with the noise measure produced by the original 1980s study is that it does not bear any relation to real-life experience.
‘It is difficult for a measure to command public confidence when it effectively tells people living in places like Barnes, Fulham, Putney, Ealing, Chelsea, Stockwell and Windsor that they are not affected by noise because they live outside the 57 decibel (dB) area around Heathrow.’
The councils are also calling for a new noise threshold for the area around Heathrow and a review of compensation arrangements for communities affected in line with a new threshold.
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