The outcome of an appeal to stop the expansion of Gatwick will be revealed by Christmas.

A delegation of local authorities, led by West Sussex County Council's transport executive Tex Pemberton, met transport minister Tony McNulty yesterday to stress their opposition.

An aviation white paper with the Government's decision on the future of Gatwick is expected at the end of the year.

Coun Pemberton said: "The delegation left the minister in no doubt expanding Gatwick would be an environmental disaster.

"We made it clear a prosperous economic future lies ahead for Gatwick and we are all working to achieve that.

"A 50 per cent growth in passengers is forecast using the present single runway and two terminals. This means excellent inward investment and many more jobs.

"Two extra runways would mean an airport almost twice, yes twice, the size of Heathrow today and more than 100,000 extra jobs.

"Building new runways would mean swallowing vast tracts of green field and agricultural land near the airport and blight properties.

"The impact on local communities and traffic would be severe with a rise in population meaning extra schools, medical facilities and social and caring services would be needed.

"We could see 27,000 more people, mainly in Crawley, exposed to serious noise, an extra 7,000 people suffering pollution above EU limits, the M23 turned into a ten-lane motorway and 100,000 more car parking spaces built on the countryside. That's not a price worth paying."

He said building runways at Gatwick would amount to desecration of West Sussex.