The East Midlands Transport Activists' Roundtable (EMTAR) has written an open letter to the government criticising plans to increase flights.

Campaigners said the expansion would cause environmental damage in the area.

An airport spokesman said NEMA is supporting manufacturers efforts to half aircraft fuel consumption.

Expanding NEMA just undermines current efforts to restore and develop many important wildlife sites Callie Lister, Friends of the Earth

Callie Lister, representative of the East Midlands Friends of the Earth and aviation co-ordinator for EMTAR, said: "If this goes ahead the region's residents and businesses will have to make up for it by cutting their use of energy in their homes, at work and in the way they travel.

"The East Midlands has also lost more of its wildlife and habitats than any other English region in the last few decades.

"Expanding NEMA just undermines current efforts to restore and develop many important wildlife sites."

An airport spokesman said: "NEMA takes the issue of climate change and the effect that aviation has on the environment very seriously.

"This is a global issue and there is a very vigorous debate at both a national and international level.

"The airport already buys 10% of its electricity from renewable sources and has invested more than �2m in environmental initiatives over the last 10 years."

A public consultation period on masterplans for NEMA ended this month. The airport management will publish final plans later this year.