PEOPLE living near the Dartford Crossing suffer noise pollution equivalent to a jet plane roaring past their doors each day, according to a map showing the town’s most ear-splitting spots.

The online snapshot, which forms part of a UK-wide service provided by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), shows noise levels in the town are highest around the tunnel approach.

Either side of a mile-long stretch of the M25 between Junctions 1a and 1b, the map shows noise levels reaching more than 75 decibels, roughly the same as the noise created by a twin-engine jet taking off 150 metres away.

The map launch came on the same day the Department for Transport ended its 12-week consultation on a discount scheme for local residents at the Dartford Crossing.

The department, which has always said the toll booths exist to manage congestion, proposes charging the borough’s drivers 20p per crossing, after payment of an annual £10 administration fee, when tolls increase to £1.50 for private cars later this year.

But residents, councillors and political figures alike maintain the tolls should be scrapped to rid Dartford of traffic congestion, noise and air pollution.

The residential area worst affected in Defra’s map of Dartford stretches from Kipling Road, next to the A282, to Green Street Green Road and Queens Gardens south of the Princes Road roundabout.

According to Defra, the threshold of pain is reached at 120 decibels.

Jeremy Kite, leader of Dartford council, said he was not surprised by the findings.

He said: “Residents around the toll plaza experience some of the highest noise levels in town. They also suffer from some of the worst air quality and most intrusive light pollution, too.

“Local residents are suffering, literally choking, because the Treasury refuses to surrender tens of millions of pounds of profit from the bridge.

“Traffic runs freely without tolls all the way around the M25 except for Dartford, and the suggestion that it plays some vital role in reducing traffic is ludicrous.”