Campaigners are concerned about a railway line near a proposed runway

The Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC) said on Monday that some potential risks could be dealt with - but only at the cost of reducing the efficiency of the airport.

The group said one of the planned new runways at Gatwick would pass close to a railway line.

Members also had safety concerns about the cutting for the proposed new north runway.

The proposed method of operating Gatwick with two new runways can only be described as ridiculous Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign

The GACC's comments were made as part of the government's UK-wide consultation on airport expansion which includes options to build one or two more runways at the West Sussex site.

An extra runway would mean the already-busy M25 motorway becoming jammed solid, the group said.

They claim would also provide fewer economic benefits than a new runway at Heathrow or Stansted airports.

"The proposed method of operating Gatwick with two new runways can only be described as ridiculous," the GACC said.

Members said there were no economic or environmental grounds for overturning the present agreement - made in 1979 - that there should be no new runways at Gatwick before 2019.

The group also said the government should rule out a post-2019 option for new runways at Gatwick as this would lead to "20 years of intolerable blight".

A final ruling on which airports will be expanded will be made in a government aviation White Paper due later this year.