GOVERNMENT plans to double the size of Southampton International Airport have been greeted with dismay by locals.

One of the options being considered by Labour is a second runway to cope with an expected rapid increase in demand for air travel over the next 30 years.

The airport is said to be shortlisted in a bid to cope with the rise in passenger numbers.

But today, doubt was expressed about the physical practicality of providing an east-west runway.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has asked UK airport operators BAA to draw up plans to build a new runway at the airport in Eastleigh, along with Gatwick and Stansted.

Eastleigh council leader Keith House said a second runway could not be built at Eastleigh as the airport had sites of international environmental significance surrounding it - quite apart from being constrained by the M27 and railway works.

"BAA have reassured the council today that they have no expansion plans and the government has yet to publish its national airports strategy."

But he added: "We will, though, be writing to ministers for urgent clarification of the government's position."

Chairman of the borough's Eastleigh local area committee Steve Sollitt said: "As far as I was aware, the whole idea of an east-west runway was written off some time ago. But I view an upsurge of traffic from the airport with horror."

And Airport Pressure Group co-ordinator Mary Finch said: "With the confines of the airport I cannot see there is any way they could put in a second runway.

"But given the position of the airport, a substantial rise in air traffic would not be good for the surrounding area or for safety."

She added: "I would also like to know where we stand with our flying controls that keep things within bounds. Is the government going to ride roughshod over everyone for this"

A spokesman for the Department of Transport, environment and the Regions said: "We are looking up to 30 years ahead. Demand for air travel is increasing by five per cent a year and the government wants to know what to do."

A number of options would be fed into the consultation document and he said airport operators BAA had been asked for ideas. But he added that, at this stage, the DTER was not naming sites.

"I'm not saying that Southampton is an option or one that we will be looking at, we are simply talking to BAA. We are not confirming any site," he added.

A Southampton International Airport spokeswoman confirmed they were aware that Southampton, along with other major regional airports in England, had been included in the government study.

She added: "Our parent company BAA has given technical and factual information to the government, but Southampton Airport is not party to the study and is not aware of any of the options that the government may be considering."

Mr Sollitt said an east-west runway would cause "serious problems" throughout the southern end of Eastleigh, have a major impact on a proposed major development area of 4,000 new homes and would cut through the council's Itchen Valley Country Park.

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