Stansted Airport: Council offers £1.4m over court appeal

A council which lost an appeal against Stansted Airport over its expansion has offered to pay it £1.4m to cover costs.

The international airport won an appeal against Uttlesford District Council in 2021, allowing it to expand to 43 million passengers a year.

The pay out, if accepted, would be paid out of a fund which covers the council's costs related to the airport.

Its chief executive Peter Holt told a meeting it would amount to a fraction of the total, confidential bill.

The offer is being made under Part 36 of the Civil Procedure Rules, which gives some legal protection to the council should the airport refuse its offer and the matter have to be decided in court, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Uttlesford District Council's planning committee originally refused permission for the expansion in 2020.

The airport then appealed to the planning inspectorate, which ruled in its favour.

The council spent an estimated £2.6m challenging the inspectors' decision in the High Court, but this was dismissed in October 2021, and later that month the council decided it would accept this decision.

The handling of the Stansted Airport appeal is currently being investigated by the council's scrutiny committee.

Council leader Petrina Lees, of party Residents for Uttlesford (R4U) - which rules the authority - said critics should wait for the publication of this report and its evidence before laying blame.

She also reminded the council it had a legal obligation to pay the costs.

"If we don't then we'd be in even more hot water," she added.

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