EAST Hampshire District Council (EHDC) has called on the Civil Aviation Authority to either reject plans to alter flight paths around Farnborough airport or re-run the public consultation.

The council says the proposed changes, submitted by TAG Farnborough, would cause noise and pollution and have a damaging impact on the local economy.

It also believes a new consultation should be held after flaws with the original attempt, including a fault on TAG Farnborough’s website leading to many representations being lost.

TAG Farnborough has applied to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to increase its airspace in order to make the airport more efficient.

EHDC’s representation comes just two weeks after East Hampshire MP Damian Hinds called on the CAA to require TAG Farnborough Airport Ltd to conduct a “new and more transparent consultation” to give people the opportunity to fully understand and make an informed response to the airspace change proposals.

The district council has written to the authority strongly opposing the plans, saying it would have a “serious impact on residents and businesses”.

The written statement added: “The current proposals envisage a massive increase in impact on East Hampshire settlements from increased overflying.

“More flights, at lower altitudes, will also have a detrimental impact on the district’s beautiful countryside – over half the district is in the South Downs National Park – and that will affect tourism and wildlife.

“Tranquillity is a highly attractive feature for visitors to the area and a network of businesses, including hotels and pubs, depend on that trade.

“The proposal to restrict the airspace available to the Lasham Gliding Society and other users of Lasham Airport and the consequent impacts on supply chains, risks local jobs.”

EHDC bosses are also concerned that TAG’s consultation was interrupted by a website fault and that the responses made by residents and businesses over five days, at a critical time in the consultation, may have been lost.

It also points out that the airspace proposal submitted to the CAA is considerably different to the consultation proposals and includes changes to proposed routes, on which the community and local authorities have not been consulted.

District council leader Ferris Cowper said: “East Hampshire District Council is strongly opposed to the proposed flight path changes because of the serious adverse impact on residents and businesses. We are also concerned that the appropriate processes were not followed during the consultation.

“We are urging the Civil Aviation Authority to either reject the application or defer their consideration to allow a proper consultation to take place.”