"It’s going to seem like a constant drone. It’s a nightmare."

This is the verdict on plans which would see more than 300 aircraft boom over one of Kent's towns each day if it is enveloped by a major new flight path.

Dartford's residents could be subjected to almost constant overhead noise if BAA gets the go-ahead on plans to build a third runway at Heathrow and further increase air traffic by designing new flight patterns.

The proposals could see up to 348 aircraft routed over Dartford by 2015 - an average of almost one every three minutes.

Under the proposals, aircraft over the borough will be as low as 4,000ft as they prepare to land on the airport’s runways about 30 miles away.

John Stewart, chairman of campaign group ClearSkies, said: "About half of all planes landing at Heathrow will be coming over Dartford - that’s a huge number of planes," he said. "It will mean one every two or three minutes.

"It’s going to seem like a constant drone, especially when people aren’t used to it."

For the full story see this week's Dartford Messenger.