Published: 10/07/2008 00:00 - Updated: 11/07/2008 10:29

Future of Stansted up in the air

By Sinead Holland

THE future of Stansted Airport remains up in the air - despite fevered media speculation that key expansion decisions would be taken by the Government this week.

Newspapers like the Sunday Times confidently predicted that Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly would give the go-ahead for growth on the existing single runway to at least 35m passengers a year and 'call in' the G2 second runway planning application.

But as the Observer went to press on Wednesday (July 9), her department (DfT) and Cabinet colleague Hazel Blears's Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG), which also has a say, were silent on Stansted.

As the speculation hotted up, Stansted operator BAA and its fiercest opponent, Stop Stansted Expansion, were playing it cool and for once were in agreement about what was inevitable.

SSE campaign director Carol Barbone said: "We expect that as a matter of routine BAA's planning application for a second runway will be designated by the Government as a major infrastructure project some time this month and formally referred to an independent inspector, who will be asked to chair a public inquiry, probably starting early next year and running until 2010."

Stansted's spokesman backed her view - and that of planning authority Uttlesford District Council - that the call-in of G2 was a done deal.

BAA anticipates that by 2030 around 68m passengers a year will fly from Stansted. Development would take place in phases, with construction expected to start in 2011 and the £2bn-plus runway open by 2015.

However, the two sides were as far apart as ever on the G1 decision to remove the current 25m-a-year passenger limit and allow around 35m travellers a year to depart from Stansted's single runway.

This was the subject of a six-month public inquiry last summer, and the inspector lodged his report and recommendation with both the DfT and the DCLG at the start of the year. The two secretaries of state were expected to give their verdict in the spring, but so far requests for a determination date have been stonewalled.

Ms Barbone said: "We note the extraordinary delay in announcing the decision on BAA's 2006 planning application for unlimited use of the existing runway. The Government has long been committed to achieving full use of the runway. We suspect they are having difficulty squaring this desire with the actual evidence presented to last year's public inquiry."

BAA said it stood by its projections of flight demand, regardless of any current short-term fluctuations, and was planning for the medium and long terms with confidence.