ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners are calling on Southampton Airport to be a “good neighbour” and foot the bill for soundproofing of almost 12,000 homes affected by aircraft noise.

Environmental Protection UK also says in its official response to the airport’s Draft Noise Action Plan that seven schools beneath the flight path should be provided with soundproof glazing.

Policy officer, Mary Stevens, said: “The evidence is increasing all the time that noise does have health impacts. We believe it would be better to take precautionary measures now rather than allowing the problems to store up.”

Mrs Stevens said the biggest impact was on pupils studying at schools beneath the airport’s flight path and she said research had shown that aircraft activity could disrupt pupil concentration.

Southampton is one of the few English airports that does not have a sound insulation grant scheme, but airport bosses say they don’t need to offer insulation as its aircraft noise does not exceed the Government’s threshold: “If noise reaches the levels identified by the government guidelines in the future, then the noise insulation scheme will be developed," said a spokesman.

Between January and April, the airport received 67 complaints about noise, a drop of 64.9 per cent on the previous year.

The spokesman said a number of revisions had been made to the report after public consultation, including undertaking a strategic review of the air space to the north of the airport to see if changes would bring operational, noise and environmental benefits.

Campaigners hope this will allow airport bosses to hold airlines to account for specific noise complaints when planes drift off agreed courses.

The plan has been submitted to the Government for approval and a response is expected early next year.