London City Airport expansion plans will double the homes disturbed by aircraft noise, according to campaigners opposed to the plans.

The airport already has permission, granted in 2009, to increase flights but it needs the council’s approval to expand its current infrastructure to accommodate them. The extra flights will allow the airport to double its passenger numbers (to six million) over the next ten years.

The £200 million expansion planned for the Silvertown airport includes new aeroplane parking stands to accommodate larger aircraft, a parallel taxi lane to optimise runway capacity during its busiest hours and a terminal extension.

Representatives from HACAN, which is opposed to the airport’s expansion, say it will allow bigger planes to use it on a daily basis. These larger planes could bring in an extra 6 million passengers a year.

The groups also believe the proposals will also worsen the noise climate for local residents. The number of dwellings officially impacted by noise will increase from 8,300 to over 15,000 by 2023.

Alan Haughton local resident and spokesman for HACAN East, said, “We are calling on Newham Council to reject the proposals. If it doesn’t we will be asking Boris Johnson to use his powers to ‘call-in’ the application so the wider implications for London as a whole can be seriously examined.”

A spokeswoman for the airport said: “The number of households affected by noise that (HACAN refer to) is compared to the present day. Without the development programme, the growth of the airport remains inevitable and the quantity of noise will increase over time. The noise levels generated will only be marginally greater with the development programme than without. “

She also said the expansion would mean a total of six million passengers per year in 2023, not an extra six million as campaigners claim.