A CANCER scare around jet aircraft emissions has fuelled health fears in a village under the flight path of Teesside airport.

Coun Doris Jones from Middleton St George said: "Around the time when the airport expansion was being discussed there was a worry about a blue film on cars every morning. But we haven't seen it for some time.

"It looked like a mixture of oil and water and we assumed it was from the aircraft. We tried discussing it with the then airport general manager, but we didn't get anywhere."

This week an expert on aircraft pollution warned that research in America suggested people living near airports may be five times more likely to develop cancer.

According to Prof John Whitelegg of Liverpool John Moores University, the main culprit is vapour and droplets which can be inhaled deep into the lungs, triggering cancer at a later date.

He said it would be irresponsible for airports such as Teesside to carry on with expansion plans until more research was carried out.

Coun Jones said she wanted Darlington Borough Council to monitor under the flight path at the airport. "So far it has been round the side on a back road.

"The parish council has voiced its concerns many times and we have been told it will be 2002 until we get some permanent monitoring equipment up there."

Mr Jim Lillico, the council's pollution regulation manager, said he had looked at environment studies from London and Manchester airports.

"In comparison, emissions at Teesside were absolutely minute. Car exhausts posed the same risks as aircraft and increasing traffic at the proposed freight centre was likely to be the bigger culprit.

"But quite soon we will be looking at the most likely places - such as the flight path - where we might expect to find something."