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The district council of Uttlesford, Essex, has rejected BAA's planning application to expand Stansted Airport's flight capacity on its existing single runway.

The plans from the company, which owns the airport, aimed to increase passenger numbers to 35 million a year by 2014, and up flights by almost 50 per cent.

But the council refused to give the go-ahead, citing the impact on climate change, pointing to the recent Stern report and findings of the Oxford University Environmental Change Institute.

Protecting the local environment was behind the decision the council expressed concerns about more flights raising noise levels, impairing air quality, and impinging on 'local quality of life'.

Environmentalist group Friends of the Earth hailed the decision as a landmark, as this is the first time climate change has been cited by a local council in a decision of this kind.

'I think increasingly people are waking up to the threat of climate change', a spokesman told the BBC.

'This decision is a fantastic sign that the public realises the need to do something.'

Terry Morgan, Stansted's managing director, said BAA will appeal against the decision, taking the matter to a public inquiry if necessary.

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