by Dan Bloom

dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

An Arab businessman's £25 million plan to extend Lydd Airport will come under government scrutiny today as inspectors launch a 13-week public inquiry.

Civil servants will descend on Folkestone's Civic Centre at 10am to open the second such process in 20 years - one which could cost council taxpayers up to half a million pounds.

A government inspector will visit the airport throughout the rest of the week, examining the site which could become home to a 960ft runway extension and new terminal.

The airport, which handled only 588 commercial passengers in 2009, aims to upgrade its facilities to allow regular flights by planes as large as Boeing 737s.

Yet environmental and tourism groups have voiced fierce opposition.

Supporters, including Folkestone and Hythe MP Damian Collins, have campaigned for the airport highlighting the need for skilled jobs on Romney Marsh.

Protestors are expected outside today's inquiry, which was announced after the airport's expansion plans were "called in" by the government last year.

Shepway councillors had gone against the advice of their own officers to approve the plans in March.

There were 12,000 objectors to the original application, including the RSPB, whose Dungeness reserve lies close to the airport's flight path.

The plans submitted by airport director Hani Mutlaq also included a 75-bedroom luxury hotel, which Lydd's mayor Cllr Rochelle Saunders described as a "carrot-and-stick job" to tempt councillors.

But airport spokesman Jeff Sims dismissed the claim as "completely wrong".

Meanwhile the complex bureaucratic process launched today is not expected to yield a result before the end of the year.

Leading figures will give the inspector their opening statements from next Tuesday.

That will be followed by hearings lasting four months, in which the inspector will call expert witnesses to give their findings on topics including ornithology, noise, ecology, nuclear safety and the local economy.

Members of the public will then be able to give their views on July 1, 5 and 6.