'Maths error' leads to runway review

Directors say a concrete runway would increase safety

Campaigners opposed to the building of an all-weather runway at a Northamptonshire aerodrome have won an important legal battle.

A High Court judge has ordered a judicial review of the decision in March by Wellingborough Council to grant permission for a concrete landing strip at Sywell aerodrome.

Mr Justice Gibbs said the council had based its decision on an environmental assessment which contained a "rather glaring error" in its estimates of future flight increases.

The case was brought by two residents living near the aerodrome who claim any upgrading of the airstrip would turn it into "Northampton International Airport".

Figures questioned

Des Crichton told BBC Radio Northampton: "Experts for the airport said that simply adding a further three-month flying time per year would result in a 25% increase in activity.

"Now it's absolutely blindingly obvious that a further three months over nine is in fact a 33% increase in activity.

"This error permeates the entire environmental statement and therefore calls into question all the figures flowing from it."

But fears that a concrete runway would lead to a major escalation in air traffic were rejected by Sywell's managing director Michael Bletsoe-Brown.

Further delays

Speaking after the judgement, he said an upgraded aerodrome would "still operate largely as it does today".

"Mr Crichton has always objected to something which has never been proposed.

"The biggest effect of today's ruling is that it has further delayed us being able to improve the safety of the runway."

The two campaigners had also argued that Wellingborough Council had failed to take into account risks to protected species of wildlife.

Mr Justice Gibbs rejected those claims, saying an "authoritative" report had shown that such animals were not found on the site.