Background
Stansted Airport stands for everything that is best in a modern, mobile and business-focused economy. Our plans for future growth offer millions of leisure and business travellers the opportunity to travel to more destinations, more often than ever before - which is good news for the economy and tourism, for friends and family. On this website we set out the details of our plans for growth and development.
About the airport
Currently around 23 million passengers a year travel through Stansted to over 160 destinations in over 30 countries. With new routes to Europe, investment in our terminal building and the prospect of long-haul destinations coming soon, Stansted relishes the challenge of preparing for the next stage in its growth and development.
In its White Paper, The Future of Air Transport, published in 2003, the Government concluded that the best solution for meeting future demand was two runways in the south east of England:
- The first at Stansted;
- followed by one at Heathrow as and when strict environmental conditions can be met.
The new runway at Stansted will be the first full length runway in the south east of England for over 60 years. The White Paper also tasked us with making full use of our existing runway and, on 26 April 2006, we submitted a planning application to Uttlesford District Council seeking permission for further growth
Existing runway
This application had two key aspects:
- Firstly, we applied to raise the current limit on the number of passengers that Stansted is permitted to serve from 25 million passengers per year to 35 million passengers a year;
- Secondly, we are asked for the current annual limit of air transport movements to be increased from 241,000 to 264,000.
A public inquiry into the application was held in 2007, with a government decision expected on the outcome in autumn 2008.
If granted permission, we forecast that the level of 35 million passengers a year will be reached in around 2015. For more information on plans for the existing runway, including key documents, please see the 'Existing runway' section of this website
Plans for a second runway at Stansted
We launched our public consultation on our original preferred location for the second runway development on 9 December 2005. This consultation, which closed on 24 March 2006, is the first of a number of consultations that we held on various aspects of the project.
On 30 January 2007, we unveiled our plans for the second runway development that we will be taking through to the planning process.
Our final design has been refined in several areas over our original preferred option that we consulted on in December 2005.
One of the main improvements is a reduction in the amount of land required for the airport development. In 2003, an initial 700 hectare site was invisaged but today planning permission is being sought for 442. Other improvements include:
- fewer buildings lost;
- less woodland lost, and;
- fewer homes and people affected by noise.
Our planning applications for the second runway were submitted to local authority, Uttlesford District Council, on 11 March 2008. On 21 July 2008, the plans were 'called in' by the Government and will now go to a public inquiry to be held in 2009.
For more information please visit the 'Second runway' section of the website