TRANSPORT secretary Alistair Darling was urged to keep an extension to consultation on proposals for a new airport at Cliffe as short as possible by Dartford's MP.

Dr Howard Stoate told the Commons last week that a four-month extension was too long and North Kent residents deserved a decision quickly. The extension follows a High Court judgement that options for Gatwick should be considered in the consultation process.

Dr Stoate said: "An early decision is essential. We do not want a repeat of the fiasco surrounding the uncertainty about the Channel Tunnel Rail Link's final route, which caused years of blight in my constituency.

"Will the minister do all that he can to shorten the process? The four-month period he has recommended is too long. It will allow yet more months, possibly even years, of blight and uncertainty."

In response, Mr Darling said he understood the position of North Kent residents who had made representations about the delay. But he said: "The thing must be done properly, and I think that it can be done properly with a four-month consultation period. We must then try to reach a conclusion, because there will be an awful lot more debate to come."