Stansted is a long way from having a masterplan for its second runway ready, BAA has said.

At a meeting of the Stansted Airport Consultative Committee (STACC), director of the Stansted Generation Two project Alastair McDermid said BAA wanted to do things properly.

His comments came in light of members asking if Stansted's outline masterplan would be ready by the end of the year, as requested by the Department for Transport, which recently published a guide to help airports prepare plans for future development.

Mr McDermid said: "We are not going to rush through something that is this complicated. It requires proper consultation.

"We don't want to rush something by the end of this year, just for the sake of getting something done."

BAA Stansted managing director Terry Morgan said anything the airport put out by December would not look anything like the finished product.

"We are three or four months into a project that is going to be a two- or three-year process of planning and consultation."

At the same meeting, however, Mr Morgan confirmed that BAA expected to submit its planning application allowing Stansted to handle 35m passengers per year by the end of the year.

Published Wednesday August 11, 2004

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