Durham Tees Valley Airport's £5m link road approved

A 1.8km (1.1 mile) link road at the airport has been given approval

The construction of a £5m link road at Durham Tees Valley Airport has been approved, weeks after the mayor of Stockton called for an independent inquiry.

It will link the A67 to the proposed Southside Business Park.

Owners Peel Airports expects the site to generate £11m a year for the local economy and create 3,000 jobs.

Opponents argue the road is a step towards turning the airport into housing and industrial estates.

Permission was granted by Stockton and Darlington councils.

'Nonsense' claims

A Peel statement said: "The reality is that all smaller airports such as Durham Tees Valley need to find new ways of generating income. If they do not they will not survive."

It went on to say claims the firm is looking to close the airport are "nonsense and potentially very damaging".

Steve Gill, managing director of the airport, described approval for the link road as "a very significant and welcome step forward" in opening up the potential of Southside.

Peel's "master plan" includes building 400 homes in the area and Councillor Ian Dalgarno, the mayor of Stockton, fears the development will have a detrimental impact.

He said: "The airport is essential to the development of Tees Valley and it will be difficult to attract investment without it."

He added that it would be a "sad loss to Teesside" if it closed.

A Save Teesside Airport Facebook page has 6,000 supporters and organiser Suzanne Foster said: "The bigger picture is to build houses and run the airport down and down."