Kent County Council is urging the government to dramatically cut the number of night flights at Gatwick.

Councillors say the current level is unacceptable and there should be a limit along the same lines as Heathrow.

The government is consulting on what restrictions there should be at Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted as the current limits will end in October.

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It says decisions on limits needs to balance the economic benefits of night flights with the cost they have on communities - particularly if quieter airplanes become standard.

But KCC has argued it is time to curb the number of flights despite technological improvements in the design of aircraft.

A report due to be discussed today (Monday) argues for stricter limits, saying.

It says: “We strongly urge the department for transport to go further in their ambitions so a true reduction is felt by the affected communities rather than a continuation of the intolerable situation at present.”

Cllr Matthew Balfour, cabinet member for transport, said: “The architecture of how planes take off and land at various airports is being redesigned.

"It is much more intrusive to have a plane fly over your house if you live in the countryside than it is in the town.

“Yes, aircraft are getting quieter but that doesn’t remove the disturbance factor.

"Gatwick at the moment has virtually no restrictions. There is a theoretical restriction there is an almost inexhaustible number of flights they can take in and out.”

The government launched a consultation on night flights in January.

It said it wanted to encourage the use of quieter aircraft as an environmental objective to limit the number of people “significantly affected” by noise.

Gatwick currently has 3,250 night flights in the winter and 11,200 in the summer.

Under the government’s plans, these would stay the same.

However, what is known is the noise quota would be cut to encourage quieter aircraft.

KCC says that quota does not go far enough either.

Last month, transport secretary Chris Grayling said he was well aware of the issue of noise for communities around Gatwick.