Heathrow Terminal Five wins approval

Heathrow's long-awaited Terminal Five is to get the go-ahead this week, sparking anger and threats of legal action. The Government hopes to quell opposition to the development by announcing at the same time a ban on night flights.

Stephen Byers, the Transport secretary, is understood to be "reluctant" to place too many controls on the project, however, fearing that the already embattled aviation industry – struggling financially in the wake of the 11 September terror attacks as well as the global economic downturn – will not be able to cope with further restrictions.

"He's not going to do anything to make life harder for the aviation industry at the moment," a government source said. "He has to put people's livelihoods and the health of the economy first.

"Is it in anyone's long-term interests to see Heathrow surpassed by Paris Charles de Gaulle as the gateway to Europe? That is what will happen if we don't approve it."

The aviation industry has repeatedly pointed out that T5 would create 275,000 jobs – and Mr Byers was "hardly going to turn them down" at a time when the UK is suffering a wave of job losses.

Protesters, though, are unlikely to be satisfied. As well as a total ban on night flights, residents' groups and environmental campaigners want the minister to block the building of a third runway at Heathrow and put a cap on the total number of flights allowed.

Opponents of the scheme are considering a legal challenge to the Government. Friends of the Earth, one of the anti-T5 campaigners, believes a judicial review could follow the decision. And it is likely that the downturn in passenger confidence in the airlines will be used as a lever.

A spokesman for Friends of the Earth said: "I think the fall-out from 11 September will resonate in the public's mind. The public will not understand why you would make a pro-T5 decision at this time. But it doesn't fundamentally alter our objections and the lack of cast-iron guarantees that it won't just be a Trojan Horse for more extension.

"We have probably just been through a long inquiry for what benefit? The Government is just going to give them what they want anyway."

Anti-aircraft noise campaigners recently won a European Court ruling against the 16 remaining night flights to and from Heathrow, which fly between 4am and 6am. Mr Byers is ready, sources said, to accept that ruling as part of the overall package.

The issue of a cap on flights is already fraught. The T5 inquiry lasted for 525 days and the 600-page report that followed has been sitting in the Department of Transport since last December. In that same period, the 473,000 flight movements that BAA predicted Heathrow would hit in 2013, have already been exceeded.