Cornwall Council has admitted that it is “anticipating a positive announcement” on the bid to have the UK’s first spaceport in Newquay.

The Government is expected to announce the location of the spaceport at the Farnborough Air Show which starts on July 16.

And yesterday Mike Eathorne-Gibbons, Cornwall Council Cabinet member for customers, appeared to be positive about what the outcome could be.

He told councillors: “We are anticipating a positive announcement at Farnborough. That is all I can say at the moment as it is all confidential.”

Spaceport Cornwall would be located at Newquay Cornwall Airport and would be used for horizontal launches into space using spaceplanes.

These could be used to launch satellites into space as well as potentially for space tourism with flights taking tourists into space.

The project is also linked with Goonhilly Earth Station and the Aerohub Enterprise Zone at Newquay Airport.

The most recent work programme published for Cornwall Council’s Cabinet also appears to be anticipating an announcement in favour of Spaceport Cornwall.

An entry headed as “spaceport” for July 16 indicates that a key decision will be made by council leader Adam Paynter. No further details are provided with the entry stating that it is “exempt” due to having information relating to financial or business affairs.

Another entry titled “Spaceport development phase 0” is listed for a key decision to be made by the council’s Cabinet on July 24. Again it indicates that the item is exempt.

If Spaceport Cornwall does happen it is said to be able to create up to 480 jobs at the site itself and the wider industry could create up to 2,000 jobs by 2028 and could be worth £1billion a year

Documents on the Spaceport Cornwall website indicate that setting up the first phase of the spaceport could cost between £20m and £25m. But it states that it could realise £320m of economic activity in Cornwall.

There is a push to increase the UK’s share of the global space sector from 6.5 per cent to 10 per cent by 2030, with the launch market expected to be worth £10bn over the next decade.

The spaceflight market is expected to be worth £25bn over the next 20 years and Cornwall could get a share of that.

An announcement on the location of the first UK spaceport was first expected in March before being pushed back to May and now, finally, expected at the Farnborough Air Show.

There are eight locations in the running to have the first spaceport with Newquay alongside one in Wales and six others in Scotland.