Campaigners vow to fight runway plans.

CAMPAIGNERS have vowed to fight against plans for a 40ft high runway on their doorstep - as councillors prepare to make a crucial decision about the future of RAF St Athan.

Tomorrow, members of the Vale of Glamorgan County Council are expected to give their backing to the Defence Aviation Repair Agency's multi-million pound Project Red Dragon. But residents in Llantwit Major and Boverton fear the next phase of development at the base - a proposed aviation centre of excellence - will lead to a runway extension bringing noise misery to the town.

Margaret Jarvis, of Boverton Road, told the Echo: ``We feel as if we can't just sit here and let this go ahead. I would be petrified if they went ahead with it.'' Homeowners in the town were today considering forming an action group to fight the plans.

The Red Dragon project, which safeguards about 2,500 DARA jobs at the site, would entail building a new superhangar and workshop complex.

And 600 soldiers from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards are scheduled to move onto the Vale base next year.

But plans by the Welsh Development Agency to develop an aviation business park have come under fire from leading Vale politicians because of proposals to extend the runway by up to half a mile over the B4265 and Vale railway line.