Campaigners opposed to the £150 million expansion of Bristol Airport claim the scheme should be thrown out in the light of a High Court ruling.

Anti-expansion groups say a judge's ruling that the Government should rethink its support for a proposed third runway for Heathrow in the light of its own policy on climate change will also apply to plans to develop Lulsgate.

They say the decision by Lord Justice Carnwath throws the whole 2003 Aviation White Paper – the policy that called for expansion of Heathrow, Bristol and dozens of other airports around the country – into doubt.

Bristol Airport bosses have rejected the claims and insist the High Court case is "very specific" to Heathrow.

Sitting in London yesterday, Lord Justice Carnwath said the Government's policy support for a third runway, made in 2003 and confirmed in January last year, will need to be looked at again in the light of the Climate Change Act 2008, which sets targets for emissions.

The judge said he was not able to hold that the points raised amounted to a "show-stopper – in the sense that the only rational response would be to abandon the whole project at this stage" and refused to quash the Government's decision to "confirm policy support" for a third runway.

But the coalition which brought the case insisted it had left the Government's policy "in tatters" – and campaigners trying to stop Bristol's expansion claim the ruling means the planning application, currently with North Somerset Council, is now a non-starter.

The application, due to be decided within weeks by the council's planning and regulatory committee, includes multi-storey car parks, a larger terminal and new administration building.

Passenger numbers, currently six million a year, are expected to rise to 10 million by 2020.

Yesterday Stop Bristol Airport Expansion spokesman Jeremy Birch said: "We've always argued that the expansion of Bristol Airport made a nonsense of trying to tackle climate change and that the economic case was flawed.

"The judge stated that the economic case has changed radically since the 2003 White Paper, particularly due to the costs of climate change, and so it can no longer be used as the basis of policy, and should be fully revised and consulted upon.

"North Somerset Council must now reject the plans to expand Bristol Airport.

"The reasons given by the judge for Heathrow are all equally valid in the case of Bristol Airport."

Environment group Greenpeace said the whole of Government policy needed to be "radically over-hauled" in the light of the UK's climate change laws. Spokeswoman Anna Jones said the Government should shelve all airport expansion plans now.

But Bristol Airport spokesman James Gore said: "The decision by Lord Justice Carnwath is very specific to the circumstances at Heathrow, the country's largest airport, currently handling more than 66 million passengers each year. Heathrow's third runway is a question of national importance and acute political controversy."

He added: "Heathrow is around 10 times the size of Bristol Airport in terms of passenger volume and Bristol's proposals do not include a second runway or even an extension of the existing runway."

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis reaffirmed the Government's support for expansion, saying he welcomed the High Court's ruling, which did not rule out a new runway, but called for a review "of all relevant policy issues, including the impact of climate change policy".