A DECISION on whether Heathrow Airport will be expanded is not expected for another year, it has emerged.

Prime Minister Theresa May has written to her cabinet colleagues stating that the the airports sub-committee will deliver its preferred option next week on airport expansion, before a "full and fair public consultation". It is expected a decision will be made in winter 2017/18.

A verdict was due to be made today (Tuesday) on the expansion, but that decision had been put back until Tuesday next week before Mrs May, the Maidenhead MP, sent a letter to her colleagues today.

A Heathrow spokesman said: “It is the expected and appropriate political process, there is no delay. Government announces its preferred option, consults on that position and publishes a National Policy Statement which Parliament then approves. Heathrow then applies for planning permission with support of Government policy.

“Heathrow expansion has the support of the majority of MPs. In recent polling, 71 per cent of Conservative MPs and 73 per cent of Labour MPs back a new runway at Heathrow. We also have the support of business, unions and over 30 airports in the UK.

"The Airports Commission made a clear and unanimous recommendation that only expanding Heathrow will deliver the connections to emerging markets that Britain needs.”

If Heathrow does gain approval, the A4 will have to be relocated, as will the Lakeside energy from waste plant in Colnbrook, with the M25 motorway also needing a tunnel to go underneath the runway.

The expansion would also create 76,000 new jobs on site, Heathrow claims, with 180,000 jobs around the country, but the environmental impact is a major concern for residents with more flights over head.

The airport has said it intends to liaise with airlines to introduce more environmentally friendly measures, as well as increasing the take off and descent angles for planes.