THE Government will bear the bulk of legal costs following the High Court challenge against a second runway at Stansted.

The judge upheld the challenge by a coalition of five local authorities Essex and Hertfordshire County Councils and East Herts, North Hertfordshire and Uttlesford District Councils over the placing of a second runway.

The Department for Transport must fund 80 per cent of the costs of the argument, leaving the authorities with a bill of £24,000 between them. The costs are being spilt seven ways, with Essex and Herts counties paying around £6,800 each and the districts £3,400 each.

Peter Martin, Cabinet Member for Planning, Enterprise and Regeneration at Essex County Council, said: "We have always been against a second runway and we feel that the detrimental effect on the countryside will be horrific. We don't see that the case has been made for a second runway and we think it's money well spent. We are continuing to pressure the Government."

SSE was part of another consortium alongside the London boroughs of Wandsworth and Hillingdon and other groups from Luton and Heathrow.

The real cost of SSE's campaign is not yet known but so far it has spent £27,000 on its own counsel and solicitors.

The latest figure for the legal costs are likely to be in the region of £120,000 and will be split between the consortium. Each group will pay a different share, dependent on the outcome of their different challenges. SSE said it expected to pay between £10,000 and £20,000.

The High Court judgement said the Government had acted unfairly by withholding important documents and the group will get a 30 per cent discount.

Campaign director Carol Barbone said: "We always said we would leave no stone unturned in our campaign to defeat the expansion proposals. This has been money well spent in showing that active campaigning can make a difference and we can make progress towards our ultimate goal through legal action."