Londoners living in three riverside boroughs face a risk to their health because of the heliport in Battersea, a new study warns.

Residents in Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea are “routinely” subjected to noise exceeding World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended limits, an acoustics expert from London South Bank University found.

Wandsworth Council leader Ravi Govindia said: “This study is the first evidence of the impact the heliport is having on residents living along the Thames.

“The conclusions, that the noise levels being generated are likely to impact on people’s health, are very concerning.

“This affects residents living across three boroughs and the study shows that, despite the introduction of a new, less noisy, helicopter fleet at Battersea, there are now hundreds, if not thousands of residents, regularly being impacted by noise at or above the operating threshold.”

Planning permission for the heliport, the only one in London, was awarded in the 1970s by the Greater London Council.

The heliport can currently only operate within set hours, with a daily cap of 80 movements a day, and 12,000 a year, not including emergency or military operations.

Cllr Wesley Harcourt, cabinet member for Environment at Hammersmith & Fulham Council said: “The results of this study confirm what residents across the borough have long been telling us – this heliport is a blight on their lives.

“It leaves us little choice but to lobby for stricter regulations on noise levels and volume of flights, so that we can better protect our residents’ standards of living.”

The government has previously told the heliport they do not need to create a Noise Action Plan (NAP), because there was a lack of data on helicopter noise.

The report recommends a UK heliport NAP model be developed. London Heliport manager Simon Hutchins said they were considering the report, and would issue a fuller statement “in due course”.