The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council (RBWM) have published ‘five facts Heathrow don’t want you to know about noise misery’ on their official website, in response to expansion plans at Heathrow Airport.

The Council claim that residents will be facing ‘blanket noise misery’ and are calling on the airport to clearly state the impact that communities will face as a result of an expanded airport.

Leaders from five councils, RBWM, Richmond, Wandsworth, Hillingdon and Hammersmith and ‘Fulham, listed the following five ‘key facts’:

KEY FACT 1 – The number of people already affected by noise from Heathrow is more than all the major European hub airports put together.

KEY FACT 2 – The combination of arrivals and departures and new flightpaths will mean seven-days-a-week noise for hundreds of thousands of people.

KEY FACT 3 – In many west London boroughs and Home Counties areas the number of communities newly exposed to noise will mean virtually no part of those boroughs will be safe from noise.

KEY FACT 4 – The current eight-hour respite which people in west London enjoy when aircraft switch runways will be slashed to just four hours.

KEY FACT 5 – The airport is backtracking on the Airport Commission’s recommendation for a night flight ban between 1130pm and 6am as a condition of support for a third runway.

Leaders representing the five councils say no parts of their boroughs will be spared aircraft noise if the third runway goes ahead.

Cllr Simon Dudley, Leader of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, said: “We will be arguing in court that the Transport Secretary had a legal duty to identify all the areas that might be affected. Instead it is being left to the local authorities to work this out for their residents.”

A Heathrow Spokesperson said: “As part of an extensive airspace consultation, we are proposing options that would reduce the airport’s noise impacts. With Heathrow’s expansion, we would be able to guarantee predictable periods of respite for all our local communities - something that cannot be achieved today, extend the period without scheduled night flights, and offer a new noise insulation scheme which could be worth over £700 million.

“Heathrow was unanimously recommended for expansion after a three-year independent study by the Airports Commission and Parliament voted overwhelmingly to back the plan last year following their assessment. We are committed to continuing our extensive engagement programme with local communities as we develop our plans.”