CAMPAIGNERS are tonight holding a major protest to take the concerns of people over the harmful growth of air travel straight to prime minister Gordon Brown's front door.

CAMPAIGNERS are tonight holding a major protest to take the concerns of people over the harmful growth of air travel straight to prime minister Gordon Brown's front door.

Placard-waving groups will be gathering for the rally opposite Downing Street, protesting over noise and pollution - a key cause of climate change - from passenger planes.

Major focus of the demonstration will be plans to expand Heathrow airport, which will send tens of thousands more planes a year across Suffolk in the years ahead, creating even more noise and helping to ruin the county's peace and tranquillity.

Some of the noisiest late night planes over the Felixstowe peninsula are from Heathrow - heavily fuel-laden and not able to gain height quick enough as they start their journeys to the Far East.

A spokesman for the organisers Campaign Against Climate Change said: “The so called 'environmental safeguards' this government has concocted for its Heathrow expansion plans are nothing more than window dressing and a smokescreen.

“If there is another runway there will be a lot more flights and if there are more flights there will be a lot more emissions.

“There is no method remotely on the scientific/engineering horizon to substantially reduce aircraft emissions.”

Pro-flying campaigners will be holding a demonstration backing increased air travel in Parliament Square at the same time as the protest which starts at 5.30pm.

Government says the expansion of Heathrow is essential for the future of the country's economy.

Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon said the airport had operated at full capacity for too long, losing ground to international hub airports in other countries.

“This third runway will help secure jobs now and in the future and ensure that Britain remains a place where the world can come to do business,” he said.

Are you upset by the growing number of planes in our skies? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk