PLANS to expand airports in southeast England are in disarray after ministers unexpectedly put off a decision to allow an increase in passengers at Stansted in Essex.

A fortnight ago ministers were set to give the green light for Stansted to grow from 25m to 35m passengers a year. No statement was made, however, perplexing BAA, Stansted’s owner, as well as the groups that oppose the plan.

Last week the mystery was solved when officials wrote to those involved in the planning inquiry into the scheme, saying the relevant secretaries of state “consider they are not yet in a position to determine the appeal”. They also said ministers were “presently” of the view that the inquiry should not be reopened.

The officials said the government wanted to look into conditions adopted in the public inquiry on noise around the airport, saying that what had been put forward by BAA and the local council might be in conflict with existing noise objectives for the airport.

A decision on expansion is now not likely until September at the earliest.

Carol Barbone, director of the campaign group Stop Stansted Expansion, said that the reason given for the delay was “totally unbelievable”. “It relates to a matter that could have been dealt with six months ago,” she said.

“One could simply put this down to dithering and inefficiency but we suspect that the government is deliberately trying to buy more time.”

Earlier in the year the government delayed a decision on an extra runway at Heathrow.

The latest delay is a setback for BAA and government plans to expand Stansted. The Essex airport was chosen in a 2003 aviation white paper as the first to have a new runway to relieve congestion in southeast England. A new runway at Heathrow was to follow later if concerns over air quality could be overcome.

As an interim step, BAA sought planning permission to increase the number of flights and passengers at Stansted on the existing runway. A public inquiry into the scheme was held, running from May to October last year.

BAA has submitted a separate planning application for a second runway. It was thought this would be sent to a public inquiry a fortnight ago.

BAA sources said they still had some hope that a decision would be taken next week, but others involved believe it is unlikely to go to an inquiry before the interim expansion plan is determined.

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