Local planners have ordered Stansted to stop building the runway until they have approved new plans from BAA. The planners said yesterday that BAA was trying to do something "materially different" from the original plans.
Brian Perkins, head of planning for Uttlesford district council, said: "The original plan was the widening of the taxiway, but BAA is now proposing to build a separate stand-by runway. Clearly there is a distinct difference between the two plans."
Jan Durkin, a member of the local aviation protection group, said that strong feeling was building up against the proposed runway.
BAA said it was seeking legal advice before deciding whether it would submit another application. It had stopped preparatory work on the site, and the delay could be up to four months, it said.
"We require this new runway as a stand-by. It would only be used in the case of an emergency if the existing runway was out of action," a spokesman said.
The government has started examining a number of sites for another runway to service London and the south-east due to increasing congestion. A second runway at Stansted has long been considered the most probable outcome.
