The Government will not consider the expansion of RAF Northolt as a major civil airport, Tony Blair announced on Wednesday last week.

'We do not intend to consider any proposals to develop it as a major civil airport because the environmental consequences would be unacceptable,' he told the House of Commons in response to a question from Harrow West MP, Gareth Thomas.

John Wilkinson, MP for Ruislip and Northwood, and John Randall, MP for Uxbridge, who have opposed the idea of developing the airbase in West End Road, which already handles about 7,000 civilian flights (mainly dignitaries) a year, into a major civil airport, welcomed his assurance.

Privately-owned Stagecoach Aviation re-introduced the idea in June 1998.

It was first recommended by a House of Commons transportation select committee in 1996 to alleviate Heathrow overcrowding but rejected by the previous Government.

A Department of Transport spokesman said further development could not be ruled out until a two-year study into expansion of South East airports, launched in March last year, was finished.

Jenny Hunt, vice chairman of South Ruislip Residents' Association, said: 'Northolt is for the Queen's flights, dignitaries and special events, and that's how we would like it to stay.'