PROPOSALS - expected to be announced tomorrow - for a second runway at Stansted Airport would mean "significant environmental damage", warns Essex County Council which says it intends to fight the controversial plans "tooth and nail".

Airport operator BAA is due to reveal its plans at a press conference in the morning, but already opposition is being voiced against the move which the county council says would also place a "huge strain" on existing public services and infrastructure.

County council leader Lord Hanningfield said: "This is not what the people of Essex want and it is not what the people of Britain need."

He added the proposals "totally contradict the government's so called commitment to protecting the environment as well as reducing emissions."

He added: "Indeed it is odd for a government who claim they want to improve the environment of this country but who also seem committed to the expansion of aviation on unproven suppositions.

"If it goes ahead, it will have a severe impact on the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of Essex residents with more pollution, traffic, noise and will place huge pressure on already overstretched infrastructure and public services.

"For these reasons we are strongly opposed to a second runway and we will fight it tooth and nail. It is time for the government to go back to the drawing board and rethink its aviation strategy."