Air passengers in the Midlands will have to accept the possibility of airports being built near their homes if they want to fly more, a minister has said.

The comments came after the MP for Blaby in Leicestershire, Andrew Robathan, hit out at proposals for a new national airport at Rugby in Warwickshire.

It is one of many proposals by the government to increase air capacity in the UK which are currently out for public consultation.

Mr Robathan told the House of Commons it would be an environmental disaster if a new airport is built in the Midlands.

This development would create a concrete and urban sprawl all the way from Rugby to Wolverhampton

Andrew Robathan MP

The Tory MP acknowledged that the number of people flying is expected to treble over the next 30 years.

But leading a parliamentary debate, he questioned whether this should be allowed to happen.

"I drive up and down the motorway, particularly the M1 on a Friday evening.

"The congestion between London and junction 17, with the M45, is just horrific.

"This development would create a concrete and urban sprawl all the way from Rugby to Wolverhampton with a narrow corridor of the Forest of Arden."

The proposed airport is one option for the Midlands - other options include increasing capacity at Birmingham International Airport and East Midlands Airport.

Same arguments

There are also plans to increase capacity at many other sites across the country.

Replying to Mr Robathan, Transport Minister David Jamieson said he had heard precisely the same arguments from MPs representing constituencies around Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

And he warned that if people want to travel more, then it is no good for them to say "not in my back yard" when it comes to building more airports.

"There is no intellectual integrity in an argument that says on one hand we are going to allow people to have this ability to fly and increase that ability to fly and on the other hand say we are not going to make that provision anywhere."