Planes are getting quieter, the government says

Peers voted 167 to 127 for Tory plans to keep the cap, and 141 to 128 on Tory and Lib Dem plans to make airports fine airlines whose planes are too noisy.

The Lords passed the two amendments at the report stage of the Civil Aviation Bill, which has cleared the Commons.

The government says quieter jets make take-offs and landings less disruptive.

Five years

Individual planes create 75% less noise than was once the case, making more flights a possibility, it argues.

If the bill passes into law, restrictions on the number of night flights to Heathrow would end in about five years.

The government and the airlines wanted to do away with the only protection people living near airports have Wandsworth Council leader Edward Lister

Urging peers to back his amendment, Liberal Democrat spokesman Lord Bradshaw said Birmingham airport already fined noisy planes.

"And the money goes into a trust fund, which is distributed for use by local communities."

But this put it at a disadvantage when competing for business with Coventry airport, where noisy planes were not fined.

Urging peers to reject the amendment, Lord Davies of Oldham said airports would be "encouraged" to fine "within the framework of this bill".

But Edward Lister, Tory leader of Wandsworth Council, which is under the Heathrow flight path, told BBC News: "The government and the airlines wanted to do away with the only protection people living near airports have.