The transport ministry has been given the green light to press ahead with the building of a new airport for charter flights at Lelystad in Flevoland province.

Campaigners had hoped that problems surrounding a report on the environmental impact of the airport would lead to further delays, but an independent commission (MER) has ruled the revised report does meet all the requirements.

The report was revised after the government acknowledged that noise levels estimated from air traffic at the airport had been miscalculated and that people will suffer far more aircraft nuisance than expected when Lelystad is expanded to cope with holiday charter flights.

Then in February, the expert brought in to sort out the report resigned after it emerged he is married to the head of the MER committee set up to assess the revised research.

The commission said on Wednesday that changes to flight paths contained in the report would lead to the number of households experiencing ‘serious noise and disrupted sleep’ being reduced.

However, the commission said, concerns about long-lasting low flying is an area of concern and that until the Dutch air space has been reorganised it cannot say what the actual impact of the airport will be.

The process of reorganising Dutch airspace will not be completed until 2023 and until then, aircraft heading for Lelystad will have to fly at a height of just 1.8 kilometres for a  long distance, in order to avoid Schiphol traffic.

The government plans to open Lelystad airport to commercial traffic from 2020.