Transport secretary Alistair Darling has announced plans for a consultation on two new runways at Gatwick as part of a wider review of airport capacity.

The move would increase passenger levels at the Sussex airport from 32 million a year to 115 million.

The plan, which would lead to the demolition of over 400 homes, is bitterly opposed locally.

Critics say it will damage one of the UK's leading conservation areas and hit listed buildings.

Following a High Court ruling that Gatwick had to be included in the current consultation, Darling said those opposing any further expansion in capacity were ignoring the data showing a clear upward trend in demand.

"Air transport is crucial to the future success of the economy. Reaching the right decisions on air capacity is essential. As promised I am publishing a revised consultation document, including options for Gatwick, to take account of the High Court's decision last November.

"We remain on track to reach a decision on airport capacity in a white paper later this year."

Darling said the government's current review would prepare the UK for the next three decades.

"What we're doing here is setting out a framework which will cover the next 20 to 30 years, that is why it is so important to get this consultation right," he told the Today programme.

In November the High Court upheld a challenge against the exclusion of options for additional runways at Gatwick airport.

But Darling's decision to include Gatwick in his review does not necessarily mean it will be expanded.

Also under consideration is an expansion of Heathrow and the creation of a new airport at Cliffe in Kent.

Ministers could also back moves to shift more traffic from the overcrowded skies of over the South East to selected regional airports.

Campaigners opposed to an expansion of Stansted airport said today's announcement was more bad news.

The group's chairman, Norman Mead, said: "Alistair Darling has one more chance to demonstrate that he is prepared to put people before planes.

"We have seen today that the government simply hasn't listened to the responses to the initial consultation which begs the question of whether it is really interested in a meaningful consultation at all."

The government's consultation period on the future of aviation policy and airport capacity ends in June.