Council pressure over noise study

The 2M Group is named after the number affected by airport noise

Local councils have joined forces to increase pressure on the government over noise from Heathrow Airport.

Twelve authorities, representing two million residents, have called for a parliamentary investigation into the reception of a six-year study.

They have accused the government of "disowning" its own report into the impact of airport noise.

The research was ordered in 2001 by the former transport minister Bob Ainsworth to "underpin" policy on aircraft noise.

This report is an inconvenient truth for the government Cllr David Burbage Windsor and Maidenhead

The 2M Group, named after the number of people affected, had hoped the results could stop plans for a third runway at Heathrow.

The number of respondents at least "very annoyed" generally increases in areas above 43 decibels, the study found.

Some 2,733 residents were questioned in the first major aircraft noise study since 1985.

But aviation minister Jim Fitzpatrick said the figures were not "robust" enough to lead to a change in policy.

Cllr David Burbage, council leader of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, said: "This report is an inconvenient truth for the government.

"They did not want it published in advance of the third runway announcement."

Lower limit accepted

He added: "Little wonder that the government wants to distance itself from the report's findings, given its overriding obsession for developing Heathrow with a third runway and possible sixth terminal."

The area affected by the current 57 decibel limit runs from Windsor to Barnes - a population of 258,000.

But if the line is drawn at 50 decibels, it takes in a much larger area running from Slough and Maidenhead to Clapham Common and Battersea, with a population of more than two million people.

The 2M group comprises the London Boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kensington and Chelsea, Merton, Richmond and Wandsworth.

Authorities outside London include Slough, South Bucks, Spelthorne and Windsor and Maidenhead.