Campaigners claimed a partial victory today in their High Court fight to stop airport expansion at Stansted, Heathrow and Luton airports.
They celebrated a ruling that they will have more say in the exact siting of a second runway at Stansted, which is run by BAA.
A judge also decided but that must be further consultation about expansion at Luton airport.
But Mr Justice Sullivan ruled that the overall plans for additional runways at Stansted and at Heathrow airport, as laid out in the Government’s aviation White Paper, were lawful.
The judgment was welcomed by Transport Secretary Alistair Darling whose White Paper had been challenged by residents’ groups and local authorities.
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Stop Stansted Expansion group said that today’s ruling had delivered a “major setback” to BAA, which has planned to build a second runway at Stansted by 2011-12.
However, BAA said that it was confident that the 2011-12 target, although “challenging”, could be met.
Whitehall sources said that today’s judgment was unlikely to cause the Government much concern, adding that expansion at Stansted and Luton would anyway have had to have been the subject of planning inquiries anyway.
The judge cleared the way for new runways at both Heathrow and Stansted, ruling that the decision-making process which led to the White Paper was lawful.
But he described as a “bridge too far” Government conclusions on the Stansted runway.