Expansion approval for Stansted Airport should be granted

Approval for expansion of Stansted Airport should be granted according to Uttlesford District Council’s experts, despite political efforts to block the development. After a year’s delay and despite more than GBP 90,000 spent on independent legal advice, a report to a special planning meeting on 24 January 2020 recommended councillors to approve the scheme to increase passenger numbers from the current maximum of 35 million to 43 million a year. Annual traffic is currently around 28 million, and the airport’s operator Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has committed to achieving the new capacity without increasing the existing 274,000-flights-a-year limit and with a 15% smaller noise footprint. The operator has also agreed to a GBP 35 million investment plan as part of its contentious Section 106 agreement with the Council. The planning application was first approved in November 2018, but when the ‘Residents for Uttlesford’ party seized control of the Council in May 2019’s local elections, the scheme was left in limbo, pending a planning committee review of mitigation measures and climate change concerns. -- There is no denying that the airport delivers substantial benefits to the Uttlesford, Essex and East of England economies. This comes in many forms, but most notably from the 12,000 people employed across the 200-plus employers at the airport, including over 2,000 Uttlesford residents. Growth to 43 million passengers a year will generate 5,000 more jobs at the airport and a further GBP 1 billion of additional economic and social benefit.

Momberger #1117.15