The expected master plan for Newquay Airport has been delayed. Cornwall county council which owns the airport says after seeking legal advice it will not be until September to allow preparation of a Strategic Environmental Assessment.

Andrew Mitchell councillor for the economy said: "The requirement to publish an SEA alongside the draft masterplan was identified by our legal advisors in May. Work has commenced to prepare the relevant documentation in line with the Government's SEA guidelines and will not hold up our plans for development at the airport. The result however will be the most comprehensive consultation ever undertaken by a regional airport in the UK".

He added: "The delay to the publication of the masterplan, does however afford us the opportunity to put into the public domain some of the work we have already undertaken to inform preparation of the masterplan. Later this month, we will therefore be publishing and consulting on three Technical Reports which have examined the potential economic and environmental impacts of developing the airport and set out transparently and objectively the extensive research we have undertaken. This examines the potential carbon emissions of the airport itself and travel to and from Cornwall, the airports environmental strategy for ensuring it is developed sustainably and the extensive economic benefits it brings to Cornwall."

Environmental groups have already protested at plans to extend the airport although Mr Mitchell claims their information is "ill-informed and misleading".

The campaign groups are expected to think otherwise.

The documents concerned are: a carbon impact study of Newquay Cornwall Airport, the airports environmental management strategy, The economic impact of Cornwall Airport.

The county council says that surveys have revealed that 20 per cent of airport inbound tourist passengers would not have come to Cornwall if they could not have flown, and these tourists' accounts for £90m income to Cornwall