Council leaders and wildlife experts have launched a campaign to halt the Mayor of London’s plans for an airport in the Thames Estuary.

Interested parties can register their views and sign an online petition against the proposal, which has been outlined in a feasability study published by the Mayor Boris Johnson’s office today (Monday).

The online petition has been launched by Medway Council, Kent County Council, and the RSPB and can be found at www.stopestuaryairport.co.uk

All parties condemn the mayor’s recommendations for the estimated £40billion floating airport, off the Kent coast.

Medway Council’s leader Cllr Rodney Chambers said a similar airport scheme was defeated seven years ago thanks to public opposition. He called on people to make their voices heard over the scheme.

He said: "As far as we are concerned, this is a case of here we go again.

"Seven years ago, we showed that a similar scheme based off of Cliffe, which is on the Hoo Peninsula, was unworkable. We got that stopped and we shall do the same with this.

"The Thames Estuary airport would require huge unsightly highways to be built linking the airport to the motorway network turning parts of Medway and Kent into a concrete jungle.

"The airport and the infrastructure needed to serve it would cost a ridiculous amount of money and it would devastate the environment which includes Sites of Special Scientific Interest and internationally important areas where hundreds of thousands of birds migrate to annually.

"This scheme does not add up. It cannot be allowed to progress any further."

Paul Carter, the Leader of Kent County Council, said: "There is a growing consensus that the Estuary airport is undeliverable, unaffordable and unnecessary.

"We hope everyone will get behind this campaign. We saw off plans for an airport at Cliffe in 2002 and we will do it again."