New homes for airport fear

Campaigners are concerned about the airport expansion plans

More than 135,000 new homes will be needed in Essex, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire if Stansted gets three new runways, a new study says.

The independent report, by consultants Colin Buchanan, says that even if Stansted remains a one runway airport 99,000 new homes will still be needed by 2036.

An extra one to three runways could see the major expansion of towns and villages close to the airport as well as thousands of new jobs.

The report was commissioned by Essex County Council to consider the impact on parts of Essex, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire of Stansted Airport expansion plans.

Proposals for core area new homes to 2036 - two new runways Harlow 18,600 Loughton 500 Waltham Abbey 500 Bishops Stortford 2,000 Braintree 6,200 Great Dunmow 5,800 Stansted Mountfitchet 7,300 New settlement (in and around Essex) 16,600

It is published next week and presents a number of predictions for the number of homes needed within 30 minutes drive of Stansted (the core area) and those needed further out.

The report follows a wide-ranging government review on airport expansion in the UK.

A BAA report in May said that one to two new runways at Stansted, but not three, would be technically feasible over the next 30 years.

Campaigners against the expansion of Stansted have expressed concern about the study.

Norman Mead, chairman of Stop Stansted Expansion, said: "The report demonstrates that we face severe housing pressures in the years ahead and the last thing we need is another Heathrow on our doorstep on top of this or this whole area would become an urban sprawl.

"This is a wake-up call that we must all resist BAA's expansion plans and persuade the Government that it must not allow additional runways to be built."

A spokeswoman for Stansted Airport said the firm was waiting for the end of the government consultation on the issue of expansion.