Michael Donnelly,
PlanningResource,
17 July 2008
The government has asked for more time in deciding on BAA's 2006 planning application for the removal of the 25 million annual passenger limit at Stansted Airport.
Transport secretary Ruth Kelly and communities secretary Hazel Blears have written a joint letter to the main parties asking for further representations on an aspect of the application relating to night noise.
The result is that a decision will not now be taken until September at the earliest – some 11 months after the public inquiry ended.
Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE), transport SSE campaign director, Carol Barbone said: "This latest excuse for delay is totally unbelievable. It relates to a matter which could have been dealt with six months ago. One could simply put this down to dithering and inefficiency but we suspect that the government is deliberately trying to buy more time."
BAA submitted separate planning application for a second runway at Stansted in March.
Meanwhile, Ryanair (which accounted for 63% of Stansted's passengers last year) has announced plans to reduce its Stansted operations by 14% this winter.
Passenger numbers at the airport fell by 4.4 per cent between January and May compared with the same period last year.
