Alan Dean, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Uttlesford District Council, is calling for plans for housing and industrial development in the area around Stansted Airport to be rejected in the wake of the Korean air crash.

He will be asking fellow members to call on Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to throw out proposals for development in the vicinity of the airport to avoid increasing the risk of people on the ground being killed in the event of an accident.

At a meeting of the council's planning and development committee next Thursday he will also invite BAA/Stansted Airport Limited to work with the council to maintain the airport's brief as "an airport in the countryside."

And he is calling on the Civil Aviation Authority to withdraw the licence of any airline found to be falling short of required safety standards.

He said; "I feel it is the responsibility of the district council to take the lead in this matter.

"For me the key issue is that an expanding airport and urbanisation in the area is a lethal mix.

''This tragic accident has just highlighted the dangers."

Calling on Stansted Airport to work with the council, he added: "Like it or not they are being spotlighted as a magnet for development.

''But Stansted was always meant to be an airport in the countryside and that is how it should remain."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.