The borough's MPs are demanding a legal ban on Heathrow night flights amid alarm about their impact on physical and mental health of people under the flight path.

Both Sarah Olney and Munira Wilson have warned that flights operating between 11pm and 6am are causing real physical and psychological harm.

Sarah Olney said there is good evidence linking aircraft noise to raised blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks. While sleep disruption has been associated with depression and is known to harm children's ability to learn and retain information.

Current rules require flights not to operate between 11.30pm to 6am, however small print clauses allow for exemptions. As a result, from July to September this year some 231 flights were granted a dispensation to fly outside the permitted hours.

Sarah Olney, who is the Richmond Park MP, said: "Night flights are the most intrusive form of aircraft noise and there is clear evidence that they harm both the physical and mental health of residents who live under flight paths.

"This summer, the delays and chaos at Heathrow resulted in an increased number of flights landing through the night. For my constituents and for many others across west and south west London this disturbance resulted in countless sleepless nights.

"This disturbance is completely avoidable. Night flights are by no means essential for airport operations. These flights can and should be removed and it is withing the Government remit to ensure this happens."

The MP called on the government to implement an outright ban and, in the meantime, to commission a report on the impact of the flights of residents to inform its decisions.

The Twickenham MP, Munira Wilson, argued that the restrictions on night flights should begin at 10pm and run through to 6am 'given the large number of night flights that are blighting my constituents' sleep'.

Sarah Olney said the problem is particularly difficult in the summer when people face a nightmare choice between having to put up with suffocating temperatures or aircraft noise.

The Brentford & Isleworth MP, Ruth Cadbury, warned that planned expansion of Heathrow to have a Third Runway, or efforts to put more flights on the existing runways, threaten to make the situation even worse.

Transport minister, Richard Holden MP, said night flights bring positive benefits to the UK economy. He argued they are difficult to manage when it comes to flights operating between the UK and Far East.

However, he said: "The government do recognise the noise from aircraft at night do bring negative impacts. They can impact on physical and mental well-being."

As a result, he said: "We need to strike a balance between the positive and negative impacts."

The minister said consultations last year led to a decision to continue with the existing rules on night flights to run for another three years. He said further consultations are planned in 2023 ahead of a decision on future rules.

Mr Holden said improvements to aircraft design are also helping to bring down noise levels, while the government has commissioned an academic study to assess the impact of aircraft noise and sleep disturbance.

This will include assessments of noise levels in bedrooms and psychological assessments of people living under flight paths.