GUARDIANS of the New Forest are set to fight plans to let dozens of passenger jets a day fly low over the National Park.

The Verderers are meeting on Wednesday and are likely to discuss proposals to expand the flightpaths used by aircraft coming into land at Southamp-ton and Bournemouth airports.

Residents say it will shatter their peace and quiet and are calling for the proposals to be grounded.

As reported in Friday's Daily Echo, the controversial scheme has been drawn up by Swanwick's National Air Traffic Services (NATS), which wants to accommodate more aircraft by moving the flightpath boundary by five miles.

If the scheme goes ahead the planes will be able to fly at just 5,500ft across much of the New Forest and over built-up residential areas, including Totton and Romsey.

Verderer Peter Frost said the proposed new route would result in aircraft flying over an area of countryside that was officially classed as tranquil.

Tranquillity He added: "In the future tranquillity will be one of the rarest commodities in southern England.

"The NATS scheme has only just been put in front of us but the Verderers would certainly be concerned about anything that increased noise levels across the Forest."

Mr Frost is a former chairman of the New Forest Association (NFA), which was formed in 1867 and is one of Britain's oldest conservation groups.

Current NPA secretary Mike Chilcott said: "We're worried about the potential impact on the tranquillity of the area.

"There's certainly going to be a visual intrusion and we believe that there will also be a noise issue.

"Our instincts are entirely against the NATS scheme. We're deeply concerned and are likely to lodge a formal objection."

Villages under the proposed new flight path include Cadnam, Minstead and Bramshaw.

Furious residents say the flights - likely to continue until 11pm each day and resume at 6am the following morning - will cause problems for anyone who has trouble sleeping.

The New Forest National Park Authority is poised to fight the proposal, saying it will spoil people's enjoyment of the area.

NATS says the scheme, due to start next April, will enable air traffic controllers to handle a greater number of flights and reduce delays for passengers using the two airports.