Essex County Council has revealed it is considering mounting a legal challenge against the plans.
Branding the move "unwanted and unworkable", leader of the council Lord Hanningfield said lawyers would be consulted.
"The case for expansion is far from proven and perhaps more importantly the airline industry simply does not seem to want expansion at Stansted.
"The only real result of Alistair Darling's announcement is that thousands of homes in Essex and Hertfordshire are now blighted until the proposal for expansion at Stansted is dead and buried."
Published Wednesday December 17, 2003
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