Stansted expansion could lead to water shortages, says the report

A report by the Council for the Protection of Rural England criticises a Government study which looks at options for airport expansion.

The CPRE is concerned at the environmental impact of three new runways at Stansted in Essex and a new airport at Alconbury in Cambridgeshire.

The CPRE report also says that if airports at Luton, Stansted and Heathrow were expanded their demand for water would outstrip supply.

Grade II buildings threatened

The report says that the expansion of Stansted would require an extra 83,000 homes for airport workers and could threaten 64 Grade II listed buildings near the airport.

The study also criticises government options for the future of aviation, claiming the rise in noise, air pollution and destruction of wildlife would devastate the local countryside.

Andrew Critchell from the CPRE told the BBC that new airport plans threaten "vast and sprawling" damage to the countryside.

Mr Critchell said: "There has been much discussion about the environmental costs of individual new airports and runways.

'Countryside at risk'

"But when all this potential damage is totalled up the impacts are vast.

"Existing towns, villages and huge swathes of countryside are under threat."

The CPRE, which is campaigning for an environmentally sustainable air transport policy, said the scale of damage caused by some expansion options could be greater than the Government's assessments.