Stansted Airport accepts council's £2.1m legal costs offer

Stansted Airport plans to increase passenger capacity to 43 million per year

London Stansted Airport has accepted a council's "all in" offer of £2.1m to cover its legal costs following a High Court battle over expansion.

The airport won an appeal against Uttlesford District Council (UDC) in 2021, allowing it to increase capacity to 43 million passengers per year.

The council was ordered to cover the airport's legal costs after an appeal and voted to offer £1.4m in June 2022.

But this was rejected by the Essex airport in June.

Earlier this month, the council voted to make two new offers of £2.05m, including £50,000 interest, and a second "all in" offer of £2.1m.

According to a council report published ahead of that meeting, £1m had already been paid to the airport in June, and this was included in the £2.1m figure.

The bill was expected to wipe out the council's strategic initiative fund, which had a balance of £1.65m before the £1m was paid.

The report said the medium term financial strategy will be used to cover the remaining £437,000.

An artist's impression of the proposed new arrivals terminal that would increase Stansted's capacity for passengers

In a statement, the airport said: "We can confirm we have accepted UDC's offer in relation to our planning appeal costs, which it was ordered to pay by the Planning Inspectorate."

At a meeting earlier this month, councillors from local authority's ruling Residents for Uttlesford (RfU) party said the airport had asked for a far larger figure, but that this had been negotiated down.

Stansted Airport said "we welcome this positive step forward" by the council.

The offer, which included £50,000 in interest, was voted through by councillors, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

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RfU previously said the group hoped the offer would bring an end to the saga for the council.

Opposition councillors had criticised the administration over the legal case.

Uttlesford councillors met at the local authority's offices in Saffron Walden on Thursday