Stansted Extension Approved By Government

BAA's planned expansion of Stansted Airport has been given the go-ahead by the government, in an announcement made by transport secretary Geoff Hoon.The number of passengers travelling through Stansted Airport is set to rise from 25 million to 35 million a year with the number of flights increasing from 241,000 to 264,000.

Unions have welcomed the proposal, believing it could bring new jobs, but environmentalist objectors feel the expansion would cause considerable harm to the environment. Members of the Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) campaign group have conducted a long-running campaign opposing the plans.

Aviation minister Jim Fitzpatrick said"There is an urgent need for additional runway capacity in the South East. ...We were clear in the Aviation White Paper that the first priority was to make best use of the existing runways, including using the remaining capacity at Stansted...We recognise that there have been strong views expressed about Stansted's expansion and all views were given the chance to be heard at the public inquiry...Ministers thought long and hard about the case before making their decision"