TV chef Jamie Oliver is backing a protest against moves to expand Stansted Airport.

Plans for expansion of the airport with three new runways were unveiled by the Department for Transport in July.

They are designed to help cope with the massive rise in air travellers forecast over the next 30 years.

Oliver said he and his wife Jules had grown up in the area.

It would spoil one of the most beautiful areas of countryside in this country

Jamie Oliver

"We love it - we are going to bring our children up here," he said.

"We are amongst the thousands of people in this area who are really worried and upset by these proposals.

"We just can't begin to imagine the devastating impact that three new runways would have on the whole region.

"Everyone I know is deeply concerned about how their children will be affected by the pollution and the intolerable noise associated with an airport twice the size of Heathrow."

Homes destroyed

Oliver said the issue was not only one of pollution and noise.

"It would spoil one of the most beautiful areas of countryside in this country.

"Villages will be demolished and woodland and green belt lost forever."

The campaign group Stop Stansted Expansion has claimed that if the plan goes ahead, hundreds of homes will be destroyed, including three ancient monuments and 64 listed buildings.

The effect of concreting over a swathe of the countryside would have a severe impact on the quality of life and health of thousands more people, the group has said.