Heathrow and its plans for expansion faced further backlash from senior politicians last week.

The Airports Commission organised a public meeting on Wednesday, December 3, as part of its consultation, with speakers including MP Zac Goldsmith, leaders of Richmond and Wandsworth councils, Back Heathrow and Hacan.

Lord True, leader of Richmond Council, warned that if the Government grants permission to allow the west London airport to expand, they would have “the most almighty battle on their hands” with thousands of people in the area.

He said: “Both Heathrow proposals are unacceptable. Further expansion cannot and must not go ahead. I urge the Government to put Londoners first and not the interests of the overseas investors behind big Heathrow.

“The misleading claims from the Back Heathrow campaign are nonsense - it is absurd to say that if the airport doesn’t expand it will decline.

“More than 100,000 west London residents have already said no to an expanded Heathrow - these are real residents, real people, all impacted by the proposals.”

Wandsworth Council leader Councillor Ravi Govindia pressed the airport owners on whether their new noise respite proposal was actually deliverable, with the airport admitting it would be dependent on weather conditions and operational issues.

He said: “All of the Heathrow expansion plans include noise respite systems which are beyond the airport’s ability to control and deliver. That was absolutely clear from the hearing.

“We are deeply concerned that the commission continues to use computer modelling alone to assess noise impacts.

“All of the expansion proposals will make the noise impacts of Heathrow much worse and our residents hold these noise contours in utter distain. More planes means more noise. That is the simple truth the commission should accept.”

Last week, it was revealed the Back Heathrow campaign group, which supports expansion of the airport, had been part-funded by Heathrow itself and Lord True has called for more transparency from the airport and the campaign group.

He said: “I have asked Heathrow to start being honest with the information they are publishing.

“We need to see detailed flight path information to really understand who will be impacted. We need to see a safety risk assessment and we need them to be honest about what might happen if a plane comes down over the city. We also need to know how each promoter propose to end night flights.

“Woefully incomplete information from Heathrow just demonstrates their lack of honesty across the whole of this process.”