Stansted Airport: Council will not challenge expansion plans

The expansion of Stansted will increase passenger numbers to 43 million a year

A council will not contest a High Court decision to allow Stansted Airport to expand to 43 million passengers a year.

Uttlesford District Council, in Essex, has spent an estimated £2.6m on its failed bid to stop the expansion.

The authority had rejected plans last year, but they were approved by the planning inspectorate after an appeal.

Deputy council leader Petrina Lees said the authority was "extremely disappointed at where we are today".

The council, run by the Residents for Uttlesford group, voted to accept the judgement at a meeting on Wednesday, which refused permission for the council to apply for a statutory planning review.

• Businesses welcome back workers as furlough ends

• Stansted anniversary overshadowed by Covid crisis

• Travel agent welcomes travel rule changes

Conservative councillor George Smith suggested the authority should not have entered into a battle from which there was "little prospect of success", the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

He said: "It's a disaster for the district. This is not our money to throw away, it's taxpayers' money and this council has a fundamental duty to spend public money wisely."

Campaign group Stansted Airport Watch (formerly Stop Stansted Expansion) said it recognised the district council had "very little choice" but to halt its legal challenge, but said the result was "one of the most disappointing aspects of this whole saga".