NOISE-embattled residents have this week been urged to fill out the Government's consultation on Heathrow, despite mounting criticism of the document.

In the first in a series of articles looking in detail at the Whitehall proposals, the Chronicle can reveal even experts are having difficulties wading through the 238-page tome.

It has emerged Hounslow Council is having to send away for further technical information to work out how the Department of Transport has arrived at its conclusions.

Aviation spokeswoman Cllr Barbara Reid said the form was 'unneccesarily complicated' and advised people to fill in the parts relevant to them while making use of the general comments section.

The first part of the consultation proposes a third runway and sixth terminal, which would allow Heathrow to cope with around 702,000 landings and take-offs while remaining within EU air quality limits.

This would be because of a range of improvements, including lower road traffic emissions and cleaner aircraft engines.

But Rob Gibson, Hounslow's head of environmental strategy, is not clear how the Government arrived at this conclusion and is having to send away for more information.

In 2003 Whitehall

officials admitted 21,000 more people would be exposed to harmful nitrogen dioxide emissions if a third runway is built, but now say there will be no increase.

"You can imagine a few improvements by 2020 but you never know what's going to happen to the aviation industry," he said.

Meanwhile, the Govern-ment claims it will limit aircraft movements to 605,000 a year until 2030 to keep within the 57 decibel noise contour limit of 127 sq km as noisier aircraft are phased out.

But the council believes the terms of the debate are wrong as it is not the noise of individual aircraft that is the main disturbance but their frequency.

It backs a Whitehall-commissioned survey, Attitude to Noise from Aviation Sources in England, which shows people become 'annoyed' by aircraft noise at 50 decibels.

Yet the DfT believes the study does not provide enough evidence for the 57 decibel limit to be changed.

Cllr Reid said: "If they want real research they should come to Hounslow and see what it's like living with it every day."