Plans for a hard runway at Sywell Aerodrome were first mooted back in 1998 but a series of legal rows meant a decision over whether or not to go ahead with the scheme has never been made.

But campaign groups set up to fight the proposals have now been told a final decision is due to be announced by next Tuesday.

Matthew Hague, secretary of campaign group STARE, said: "People have been saying a decision is imminent for a while now but we have been told that it is now due to be published on or before November 20.

"We are confident the decision will be in our favour. We believe the application is fundamentally flawed and expect those responsible to uphold that view."

If a decision is made it will finally bring an end to a nine-year wait, which has seen bosses at Sywell Aerodrome spend more than £1million funding their campaign – the same amount it would have cost to build the runway back in 1998.

More than £400,000 was spent on a public inquiry, following a string of appearances in the High Court and an official judicial review of the case.

The proposed runway would cater for planes of up to 16 tonnes and would stretch for more than a kilometre. Campaigners have voiced concerns over the environmental impact of the runway and expressed fears it could lead to a huge rise in the number and type of aircraft using the county airfield.

Doug Marriott, whose home backs on to the airfield, said: "I have no objection to a hard runway, progress is inevitable, but I am concerned over the size of it. If you look at the worst case scenario it could mean we have up to 84,000 traffic movements a year, three times as many as we have at the moment."

But Sywell Aerodrome director, Michael Bletsoe-Brown, insisted the plans would not herald the arrival of far bigger planes than currently use the site.

He said: "We are not going to see scheduled flights or anything like that. We are looking at the corporate market and there might be the odd chartered flight or something. It would have been perfect for a group of 40 blokes taking a plane to go and see the rugby in Paris for example."