Heathrow noise figures 'rigged' by ministers

Ministers were today accused of trying to rig the case for Heathrow expansion by using Concorde as the benchmark for noise limits.

Permission for a third runway at the airport rests on the operator BAA being able to prove there will be no increase in noise levels.

But it emerged today that the Government has chosen to use 2002 as the comparison date - the last year in which the deafening Concorde was still in service.

Campaigners said ministers were attempting to "dupe" the public.

If Concorde, by far the noisiest aircraft to operate out of Heathrow, is taken into account it is easier for the Government to say there will be no increase in noise levels as a result of expansion.

If the supersonic jet is removed from the calculations, then ministers may struggle to argue that a third runway will not increase noise and pollution levels. A consultation on expanding Heathrow will be launched before Christmas.

If given the go-ahead, the new runway would be open in 2017, allowing for an extra 60,000 flights a year.

John Stewart, of the anti-Heathrow expansion group Hacan, said: "It is absurd to use an ear-splittingly noisy aircraft now lying in museums in the standard used to determine whether Heathrow can be expanded. The Government should, at the very least, be pledging that there will be no more disturbance than there is now. Instead they are trying to dupe us with a worthless benchmark relating to a situation five years ago."

Today's revelation are the latest controversy to dog the proposed expansion.

The Evening Standard revealed this summer that the Government was colluding with the airport's operator BAA to shape the terms of the forthcoming expansion.

Documents showed that Department for Transport officials discussed moving monitors at the airport away from the runways so they could record lower pollution readings.

Last week, the Government rubbished its own report on noise pollution around the airport which showed that more people were affected by the problem than previously realised.

The study found the public became significantly annoyed by aircraft noise when it reached 50 decibels rather than 57 decibels - the benchmark figure used by the Government.

But to the dismay of the consultants who produced the report, ministers said they were not satisfied with the methodology and said the findings would have no bearing on Heathrow's proposed expansion.