AMBITIOUS plans to create 6,200 jobs on new business parks around Southend Airport have been rubber-stamped.

Southend Council has approved the final version of its joint area action plan - a blueprint drawn up with colleagues at Rochford District Council to set out the future of land around the airport.

The move means the plan can now be published for a final public consultation, before being sent to the Government for ultimate approval.

John Lamb, the Tory deputy council leader, said: “This is a very important piece of work that has been going on for some time.

“There is a real opportunity to draw in some new businesses and, in particular, some very hi-tech businesses and create new jobs.”

The action plan, which has been more than six years in the making, outlines Southend Council and Rochford District Council’s agreed goals for the airport and its surrounding area.

The blueprint is designed to smooth the way for future planning applications from private firms, by setting out what would be acceptable and what would not.

Saxon Business Park, a 99,000 square metre office development on fields north of the existing Aviation Way industrial estate, is one of the flagship projects which bosses hope will be mostly completed before 2021.

It also contains plans to rework the road network around the airport, including the revival of the Shoebury bypass idea in the future.

The projects could be paid for through further Government funding, or money promised by developers in exchange for permission to build new homes.

Now the plan has been approved by the council, the public will be given six weeks in which to make any objections on legal grounds.

If there any authentic objections, they will trigger a public inquiry run by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Chiefs anticipate that, if all goes well, the plan should be adopted by December next year.