A campaign group is in “utter despair” after flight path changes which it fears will create a "noise ghetto" were rubberstamped.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) yesterday (November 26) gave the go-ahead for London City Airport to the use new technology to create a much narrower and concentrated flight corridor over Wanstead, Leytonstone and Leyton.

It would see a plane flying over these areas every three minutes.

During a consultation from September 4 to November 27 last year, only three per cent of the 504 people who submitted a response supported the proposal.

A £220million airport expansion project which would have seen the terminal triple in size was rejected by London Mayor Boris Johnson earlier this year.

HACAN East chair John Stewart said the group is looking into the possibility of challenging the decision to narrow the flight paths.

He said: “Many people will be in utter despair of the decision.

“It means that residents who were hardly overflown at all by planes from London City a few years back face the prospect of living under a concentrated flight path for the rest of their lives.

“It is a terrible prospect.

“The CAA is already under fire for its attitude towards residents around Heathrow and Gatwick.

“It is simply wrong that a body largely funded by the aviation industry should be taking these decisions.

“In our view it is not fit for purpose to have these responsibilities.

“We are discussing a possible legal challenge with our lawyers.”

Phil Roberts, head of airspace at the CAA, said the new flight paths would mean less people are disrupted by noise.

He said: “The changes we have approved today will bring significant benefits to both air passengers and many communities currently overflown by aircraft.

“We absolutely understand that aircraft noise disturbs many people.

“These changes move significant numbers of flights away from populated areas and will reduce overall emissions.

“As we have done with this decision, we will continue to consider the environmental impact of all our airspace decisions and have called on the aviation industry and other decision-makers to be much more ambitious in confronting aviation’s environmental challenges.”

The new flight paths are set to be implemented next month.