THE decision to block airport operator BAA's plans to increase the number of passengers using the airport to 35 million a year could be "a turning point in aviation history", it has been claimed.

Uttlesford District Coun-cil's development control committee last Wednesday threw out the controversial plans much to the delight of anti-expansion campaigners who now face the prospect of fighting BAA at a public inquiry next year.

Campaigners were delighted as the decision was made after councillors slammed BAA's proposal as environmentally disastrous and likely to erode residents' quality of life.

Councillors' arguments focused not just on defending the peace of the community but also called into question the government's seemingly paradoxical policy to reduce carbon emissions while supporting the expansion of airports.

Liberal Democrat councillor Richard Harris said: "This could be a turning point in aviation history. Stansted has become the face of a live now, pay as little as possible culture'.

"The time has come to pause, stop and think - we must take action now to stop the rampant rape of our planet."

Council leader Alan Dean said refusing the application would be no ordinary event.

He asked whether if the expansion went ahead nitrous oxides from planes would cause more damage to Hatfield Forest, whether the district would run out of water because of extra taps being run at the airport, and whether local communities would be "degraded by blight from fear of a larger airport".

He said: "Until now BAA has claimed aviation's contributions to global emissions are so small as to be insignificant. That has always been a scientifically and morally unintelligent argument. After the Stern Report it's an economically vacuous and irresponsible position."

The committee backed all nine reasons cited by council officers for refusing the application, including likely impact on noise, air quality, water reserves and the congestion of road and rail networks.

Councillors accepted that the expansion would mean the creation of an extra 3,000 jobs at the airport, but roundly rejected this as a mitigating factor.

The decision delighted members of pressure group Stop Stansted Expansion who attended the meeting en masse.

BAA has launched an immediate appeal against the decision.