Forbes J refused to quash the decision of the secretary of state for communities and local government and the secretary of state for transport to refuse planning permission for a new £7m passenger terminal.
The airport, which was bought by Irish-US property development joint venture Cafco-C in January 2006, first submitted a planning application for the 10,000 sq ft terminal almost five years ago.
The airport hoped that the new terminal would enable it to handle up to two million passengers per year.
According to papers filed at the court, the airport complained that the planning inspector’s report upon which the secretaries of state based their decision “is riddled with manifest errors and is characterised by repeated and countless failures to deal properly or at all with the extensive evidence that was heard at the inquiry”.
Dismissing the challenge, Forbes J held that “this application is, in its essentials, an attempt to rerun many of the arguments and submissions made at the original appeal.”
