Reports that the Government has decided to build a second runway at Gatwick after 2019 have been dismissed by campaigners.

Brendon Sewill, chairman of the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign, said the stories, in the Sunday Times and The People newspapers, were incorrect.

It was claimed Transport Secretary Alistair Darling had decided to back new runways at Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick.

The controversial second runway at Gatwick would not be built until planning agreements run out in 2019, the reports said.

Mr Sewill said it was unlikely the British Airports Authority (BAA) and other interested parties in the industry had been told the runways would be built.

The Department of Transport agreed, saying no decision had been taken.

The airline industry and the Government estimate the number of air passengers will treble by 2030.

Business leaders and trade unions back expansion, which environmental groups argue would have catastrophic consequences for communities near airports and for the climate.

Peter Mumford, transport spokesman for the Sussex-branch of the Campaign to Protect of Rural England, said: "There will be a lot more noise, a lot more pollution and we will all be subject to a great deal more aircraft in the skies. It is going to be a disaster all round."