THE REPORT into the debacle that led to the closure of Newquay Airport will not be made public until after local elections, the Western Morning News can reveal.

The chief executive of Cornwall Council has ordered the delay of the publication into what went wrong at the airport to avoid "considerable media and political interest" before the June elections.

Compensation claims made by airlines could cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The postponement of publication has left councillors, campaigners and airport users furious that the information regarding the controversial closure is not being made public at the earliest opportunity.

The airport was forced to shut on December 1 after the council, which owns the civilian airport, had been due to take over the site from the RAF but failed to obtain the correct licence.

Kevin Lavery, Cornwall Council chief executive, said in an e-mail to councillors that the report, being compiled by Sir John Mills, had already been delayed due to difficulties in arranging meetings with key RAF personnel who had been on deployment in Afghanistan.

The e-mail then says: "While I do not know what Mr Mills will report, it seems sensible to assume that there will be considerable media and political interest in it.

"Therefore, for members of all political groups, it would be wrong to publish it during this period of restrictions on political comment. It will be brought forward for consideration early in the life of the new council."

Under the Local Government Act, restrictions are placed on the activities of local councils in the run-up to elections in the interest of fairness and all media must be scrupulously fair and balanced in coverage of council matters.

Independent councillor Graeme Hicks said of the delay: "The idea that the report should stay hidden until after the elections is totally unacceptable. This isn't the way a democracy should be operating.

"We should act in the public interest at all times and allow the public to have a truthful account of what happened."

Mark Kaczmarek, independent councillor for Carharrack, Lanner and St Day, said: "The report probably backs up what a lot of people are saying, which is that the county council failed miserably in letting people know about the closure.

"If it's damning, it should be out there in the public domain." He added that people should be given the choice of not voting for any councillors if they were deemed responsible for the affair.

Budget airline Ryanair denounced the council as the "Keystone Cops" after the closure and confirmed it was still seeking compensation running into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Stephen McNamara of Ryanair said yesterday: "We would encourage the findings of the report to be published as soon as possible to ensure lessons are learned."

The WMN believes that the other two airlines which used the airport in December – Air Southwest and Skybus – will also seek compensation.

MP for North Cornwall, Dan Rogerson, said yesterday: "Passengers from Newquay Airport were seriously inconvenienced by this closure and it's important for everyone to find out exactly what went wrong.

"The report therefore needs to be comprehensive, with clear answers from the contractors involved as to why the civilian control tower wasn't ready in time.

"Once John Mills has reached satisfactory conclusions, they should be published without unnecessary delay."

The council recently published its master plan for the development of the airport which will cost about £150 million over the next 20 years.

Sarah Wright from campaign group Stop Newquay Airport Expansion (Snare), said that the initial closure and the report delay were symptomatic of the inability of Cornwall Council to run a financially successful airport.

Newquay resident John Bussey, 75, who spent 27 years in the RAF, is a regular airport user who had to cancel two flights as a result of the airport closure.

He said: "I'm eagerly awaiting the report promised by Coun Andrew Mitchell immediately after the fiasco at Newquay Airport. Like many users, I'm very interested in what went wrong.

"I'm less than happy to find out that the publication has been deliberately delayed until after the elections. I feel this reflects very badly on the council."

A Cornwall Council spokesman said last night it had not yet received the report as Mr Mills had been waiting to talk to some members of the RAF serving in Afghanistan. "The council had hoped to bring the report to the executive meeting on May 13, but this has not proved possible.

"As this report is likely to attract considerable public and member interest it is deemed inappropriate to bring it forward during the pre-election period which restricts local authorities from dealing with high profile issues or reporting views, proposals or recommendations in such a way that identifies them with individual members or groups of members."

The spokesman said the council hoped to receive the completed report from Mr Mills within the next few weeks and then bring it to a meeting of the executive as soon as possible after the elections in June.