Plans to expand Stansted airport have been overwhelmingly rejected in a ballot of thousands of people living nearby.

Almost 90% of the vote in the referendum in the Uttlesford district of Essex was opposed to the government's plans to build three new runways at the airport.

About 70% of the 50,000 voters returned their papers in the ballot, initiated organised by Uttlesford District Council.

Trevor Oliver, who runs the Cricketers pub in the village of Clavering, said: "It's a marvellous result - all we could have hoped for."

Trevor Oliver: Marvellous result

Mr Oliver and his wife Sally, the parents of TV chef Jamie Oliver, have run the pub for 27 years.

Plans for the development of airports in the UK were unveiled by the Department for Transport in July.

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

But the proposals met with fierce opposition from local residents and environmental groups.

The referendum was organised by the independent Electoral Reform Services, which began sending out ballot papers at the beginning of October.