Hundreds of people, who will lose their homes if a new runway is built at Heathrow Airport, gathered outside Parliament during the debate on the airport proposals.

They plan to lobby MPs and to hand in a letter of protest at Number 10 Downing Street.

The expansion of Heathrow is one of a number of options put forward by the government for debate.

We all understand the devastation this will create to the lives of our communities and we are all determined to fight for our communities

Chris Pond MP

Others include a new four-runway airport at Cliffe in north Kent, and up to three new runways at Stansted airport in Essex.

But during a debate in Westminster Hall, MPs of all parties demanded to know whether the economic benefits were greater than the damage caused to people and the environment.

Conservative John Randall, whose Uxbridge constituency is close to Heathrow, questioned whether the government had made a case for a predicted rise in demand for air travel.

"We should be managing demand, we should be looking at what must be done.

Noise and pollution

"What about making the rail infrastructure more efficient to cut down the number of internal flights?"

People living near Heathrow say 4,000 homes, three primary schools and two old churches will be bulldozed to make way for a new runway.

They also say thousands of people living near the flight paths will be affected by extra noise and pollution.

Mark Prisk, Tory MP for Hertford and Stortford near Stansted in Essex, said: "What the government is proposing for Stansted would irrevocably change, not just our landscape, important though that is, but also our community.

"I believe that in that location it would be a development that would be wholly unsustainable."

Rising demand

Labour's Chris Pond, member for Gravesham, said the Cliffe airport proposals were environmentally disastrous.

"We all understand the devastation this will create to the lives of our communities and we are all determined to fight for our communities," he told MPs.

But junior transport minister David Jamieson said the government had to weigh up the demands of those who want to fly and the environmental impact.

"The government did not have the option of doing nothing," he said.

A white paper on aviation is due next year.