An MP has demanded an end to the mystery surrounding the future of Southend Airport.

Dr Michael Clark , MP for Rayleigh, said it was time for airport bosses to be more open about what was happening to its long-term expansion plans.

Owners Regional Airports Limited have consistently refused to answer any questions about their proposals to expand the site, which were due to start almost two years ago.

Concerns about the airport's future have heightened after it was learned RAL has put plans before Bromley Council to turn its other airport, Biggin Hill in Kent, into London's fourth airport in a £15 million expansion.

Dr Clark said there was never a clear-cut picture of what was happening at the site.

He said: "I remember opening a new terminal there three or four years ago and then there were big plans for a new railway station, and visitor centre.

"They seem to talk of spending money a lot - I think it's time for them to either put up or shut up."

Airport bosses have said plans are still on track for a new terminal, railway station and visitor centre which it said would make Southend a gateway to Europe.

When planning permission was granted for the expansion in January 1998 chairman Andrew Walters said it would be finished in time for the millennium so it could receive millennium dome visitors.

News of Biggin Hill's plans are the latest revelation to suggest Southend's expansion could be in jeopardy.

Last month documents revealed any lengthening of the runway - desirable if an expansion is to go ahead - would be scuppered by the presence of a church at one end and the Liverpool Street line at the other.

Southend Airport was unavailable to comment on the matter.

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