London's Heathrow Airport, the busiest in Europe, looks set to win the decade-long battle over whether it should be allowed to build a new terminal, newspapers say.

According to the Sunday Telegraph the government is set to over-rule thousands of pages of objections from local residents, environmental groups and others opposed to the �2.5bn project.

Instead, the paper says, it will give its blessing for the British Airports Authority to go ahead - at least with the next stage of planning.

That could delay groundbreaking for about six months, but the clever money is now on a start in the middle of next year.

The main building of the terminal should be complete by about 2006-7, along with new parking and other facilities.

On its own, the terminal will rank as Europe's third-busiest airport, if BAA's plans are given the go-ahead as they currently stand.

Limits

BAA has had to accept a number of strictures to gain the permission, the Sunday Telegraph claims.

It is not allowed to increase the number of night flights, and it must provide new public transport links to cut down on the weight of traffic in the area.

But some observers are reported as saying that whatever the restrictions - and given the current tribulations of the airline industry - if Heathrow wants to expand, for instance with a third runway, it will be permitted to do so.