A SECOND Stansted runway would be "catastrophic" and only achieved through the "wholesale destruction" of the countryside, it has been claimed.

Meanwhile protesters fighting the controversial proposals have been given a startling warning that even a second runway may not be the end of development at the west Essex airport which under the latest plans could be handling 68 million passengers a year in about 2030.

Essex County Council leader Lord Hanningfield, who was one of more than a dozen speakers at the Stop Stansted Expansion rally held in Bishop's Stortford last night, said: "We're going to do everything we can everywhere to stop a second runway.

"It's basically another airport in Essex. It's a disgusting imposition on the Essex countryside. We are going to put all the resources and all the effort into stopping it.

"We will put whatever is required to fight the appeal - the inquiry. There are many, many issues."

Airport operator BAA's £2.5billion scheme, which includes a second terminal, hotel and new control tower, would occupy 442 hectares of land - instead of the originally proposed 700 hectares.

But it would still mean the loss of 13 listed buildings, ten of which BAA plans to dismantle and rebuild elsewhere.

Douglas Kent, from the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, said the area surrounding the airport is "unique for its remarkable quality of architecture" and he likened BAA's plan to move ten listed buildings to "cutting a flower at its roots and putting it in a pot".

Jackie Cheetham, deputy leader of Uttlesford District Council which held a referendum among residents which showed 89 per cent were opposed to expansion, said a second runway would bring "catastrophic change to the character of our beautiful rural landscape".

She added: "Our communities are already over-flown by aircraft in one of the most congested airspaces in the world."

Stop Stansted Expansion chairman Peter Sanders referred to the CO2 issue and the affect of additional flights.

"We're sometimes called NIMBYs - but only if our backyard is the planet," he said. "We should all stand together to defend this wonderful stretch of countryside."

He urged people to "put the BAA monster back in its cage".

Keith Turner, from the National Trust - which owns nearby Hatfield Forest - said the organisation was "totally opposed" to airport expansion, adding: "It's imperative that a second runway is not built".

Geraldine Nicholson, of the Stop Heathrow Expansion (No Third Runway Action Group), gave an insight into what people living near Stansted would experience should a second runway be approved.

She said people living near Heathrow hear planes from 4.30am.

"Being woken every morning at that time is an absolute nightmare," she told the meeting at the Rhodes Arts Complex. "That's what you will be experiencing."

She added: "They (BAA) just keep coming back for more. A second runway at Stansted won't be the end of it. If they get it they will be licking their lips and they will come back for more. Keep on fighting, you can win."

Saffron Walden MP Sir Alan Haselhurst, the deputy speaker in the House of Commons - whose constituency includes Stansted - said: "We've heard a comprehensive case against a second runway at Stansted."

He said the message to BAA was clear and simple: "No, no, no to a second runway" which he said would bring "wholesale destruction" of the countryside.

Directing his comments at BAA, Sir Alan concluded: "They don't get it do they? Do they not realise the resistance we feel. Let the drum beat of resistance sound."

Should the second runway be approved then work, which includes road and rail improvements, could start in 2011 with the runway open in 2015.

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