The majority of people are against plans to expand Luton airport, despite claims that a public consultation showed support, campaigners say.
The airport said that 65% of 1,360 responses backed expansion plans to support 18 million passengers a year.
But Andrew Lambourne, of Hertfordshire Against Luton Expansion, claimed most of the responses came from people associated with the airport.
“The general public, who will be most affected, were 73% against”, he said.
The airport operator, London Luton Airport Operations Limited (LLAOL), said last week that it received 885 positive responses during its public consultation, 380 objections and 94 from parties who were undecided.
Lambourne, who lives about six miles away from the airport, told the BBC that a breakdown of the responses showed only 450 came from the public.
“What they also included was 612 votes from airport employees, airlines, airport union members and businesses associated with the airport,” he claimed. “Unsurprisingly they were 100% for expansion of the airport.”
The concerns are that plans to increase the capacity from about 9.5 million passengers a year would create too much traffic and noise, significantly damaging residents’ “quality of life”.
Lambourne described the airport’s promise of reduced night-time flights and a fining system for aircraft which breached noise limits, offered as a response to the consultation, as “spin”.
Noise levels at night would still rise and the number of flights deterred by the noise restrictions would be insignificant to the “160 extra flights a day” gained by the expansion, he said.
“If you take the spin at face value you might think it’s something good – it’s not,” he said.
LLAOL said the airport expansion, which would be carried out in three phases up until 2028, could create up to 5,100 jobs.
Luton Borough Council is carrying out its own consultation until February 18.