Hundreds of residents came out in force last night vowing to fight Gatwick airport expansion plans.

More than 450 people packed into the 11th Century Norman church in Charlwood to attend the first public meeting since the Government revealed proposals for two new runways at Gatwick.

Villagers have formed the Charlwood Home Guard, an action group spin-off from the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign, to resist a second, or even third runway.

Mole Valley MP Sir Paul Beresford announced he had formed a group of six local MPs, including Charles Hendry, Francis Maud, Crispin Blunt, Peter Ainsworth and Nicholas Soames, who were prepared to fight the villagers' corner in Westminster.

But Crawley's Labour MP Laura Moffatt was not among the list. She was said to be "thinking about it".

The packed meeting at St Nicholas' Church voted unanimously for the resolution, which stated "The people of Charlwood are totally opposed to any new runways at Gatwick".

Hilary Sewill, who chaired the meeting, said: "The hands shot up. We did a head count and we believe that there were 450 people voting with us."

Mrs Sewill is chairwoman of Charlwood Parish Council.

She added: "It was a very sombre, serious meeting. People were very anxious to know what the plans were and how it would affect the village."

Peter Barclay, another campaigner, used a map to explain all three proposals.

Option one is for a close parallel runway to the south; option two features a wider-spaced runway to the South and option three, the one which would most affect Charlwood, is for two new runways, one to the north and one to the south of the existing Gatwick strip.

"Whichever option may be chosen we will be against it," said Mrs Sewill. "We are determined to stand firm and 'see-off' all these proposals."