BAA submitted a planning application yesterday to double the size of Stansted airport in Essex in a move described by campaigners against expansion as “tantamount to a declaration of war”.

If approved, the £2.5 billion second runway and terminal would serve at least 68 million passengers a year by about 2030. BAA said the runway would open by 2015.

Carol Barbone, co-ordinator of the Stop Stansted Expansion campaign, said: “BAA’s planning application for a second runway goes beyond environmental vandalism and is tantamount to a declaration of war on the local community and global environment.”

She said that BAA had submitted the application merely to increase the airport’s value in case it was forced to sell it. Stansted’s rapid growth stalled last year, with its lowest increase in passengers for more than a decade. Theresa Villiers, the Shadow Transport Secretary, said: “The Government’s predict-and-provide approach to expansion at Stansted is wholly discredited. There is no credible economic case for a second runway at the airport.”

David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “With the UK economy now facing a slowdown, it could not be more crucial that the country’s third-busiest airport is permitted to expand.

“We cannot simply shut up shop and allow our European competitors to benefit.”

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