Plans to allow aircraft to regularly take off over Cranford, ending a 60-year old gentlemen's agreement, could be grounded.

Heathrow Airport has applied to Hillingdon Council for permission to carry out the necessary taxi-way work to enable scheduled departures to the east from the northern runway.

Councillors are due to make their decision next Tuesday (February 11), but officers have recommended refusal on the grounds too little compensation has been offered to mitigate the impact of extra noise on residents and schools in Cranford and surrounding areas.

"Officers do not consider that the application properly assesses noise impacts and these are considered to be crucial in the light of impacts on the health and wellbeing of residents or on educational establishments (local schools)," they wrote.

"The application also fails to provide adequate mitigation for those who are acknowledged to suffer from significant increases in noise."

The Cranford Agreement was a verbal deal struck in 1952 preventing departures from Heathrow over Cranford because it was considered the noise would be unbearable for those living so close to the northern runway.

It was repealed in 2009 by the then Labour government to reduce the noise burden on those to the airport's west, in Windsor and Maidenhead, who consequently have to put up with more planes overhead.

Heathrow estimates ending the agreement would mean more noise for 4,000 people to the east of the airport but quieter days for 10,500 to the west, though Hillingdon Council believes the adverse impact has been underestimated.

Hounslow Council has raised concerns about the impact on schools under the northern flight path, describing the proposed mitigation measures as inadequate.

But it stopped short of opposing the planning application outright as it recognises there would be benefits for some of its residents living under the southern flight path, particularly those in and around Hatton Cross.

Parents at Cranford Primary School, which lies under the northern flight path have started a petition against ending the Cranford Agreement in practice.

Gulvinder Bains, whose nine-year-old daughter attends the school, said: "The noise is already quite bad but if these plans get the go-ahead it would be a lot worse. We're worried about the impact on the quality of children's playground time."

WHAT DOES ENDING THE CRANFORD AGREEMENT MEAN?

Under runway alternation, planes use one runway for departures and the other for arrivals, with the roles reversing at 3pm every day.

Aircraft must take off and land into the wind. Most of the time this means they depart to the west but during easterly winds, which happen about 30 per cent of the time, they have to take-off to the east, over London.

Because the Cranford Agreement has historically prevented take-offs over the village from the northern runway, during easterly winds planes have to use the southern runway for departures and the northern one for arrivals - even if this means switching the roles designated under runway alternation.

Ending the agreement in practice, as Heathrow wants to do, would enable runway alternation to operate uninterrupted regardless of the wind - guaranteeing residents their alloted period of peace.

It would mean quieter days for thousands of people to the west of the airport and although it would lead to more noise for people in Cranford, supporters argue that quieter planes mean the din would be less deafening than when the agreement was signed more than 60 years ago.

However, there are concerns the move would pave the way for mixed mode, under which each runway could be used simultaneously for departures and arrivals.

Mixed mode could reduce delays and potentially allow more flights at the airport, though the current cap of 480,000 arrivals and departures a year would first have to be lifted.

It is not presently allowed and Heathrow has said it has no desire to introduce it, even should it get the go-ahead for a third runway.

But officers at Hillingdon Council have suggested should councillors approve the planning application to enable take-offs over Cranford that a clause preventing mixed mode ought to be inserted.

A limited number of aircraft have already taken off over Cranford since the agreement ended in 2009, during so-called 'operational freedom' trials.

These allowed both runways to be used for departures or both for arrivals for a short period when delays were building up, in a bid to reduce the backlog.