Alternatives to the controversial expansion of Gatwick airport were today dismissed by a powerful committee of MPs.

The Transport Select Committee ruled new major airports should not be built on greenfield sites.

Expanding at or near existing sites was a "viable and more practicable solution" to airport capacity problems, the MPs said.

The report is a blow to campaigners fighting controversial proposals for up to two new runways at Gatwick.

The committee does not say where the extra runways needed in the South- East should be built.

But dismissing one of the major alternatives to Gatwick, a £9 billion airport at Cliffe in Kent, shortens the odds on the proposals being picked by the Government.

The MPs also rule out building on greenfield sites in the Thames and Severn Estuaries.

The other options are up to three new runways at Stansted Airport, or a new runway at Heathrow.

Ministers are due to publish their decision in an aviation White Paper later this year.

In today's report the committee was also critical of airport operator BAA, which runs Gatwick, saying it should have its monopoly broken.

MPs said: "It is ineffective and inappropriate to have a single private sector operator controlling such a large part of our aviation infrastructure.

"The Government must not assume that extra capacity in the South East should be provided by BAA. In our view it would be more appropriate to break up its monopoly."

The Government announced possible options for extending Gatwick earlier this year which included new full-length runways to the south or to the north.