The 2003 White Paper was issued after the consultation (known as SERAS) in which almost 500,000 responses were submitted to the Department for Transport. The great majority of respondents to the consultation had opposed the building of further runways in the South East or elsewhere. Uttlesford District Council, the planning authority for the airport, conducted its own referendum in 2002 in which 89% of voters said "NO" to any further runways at Stansted. The turnout of 69% of the local electorate was a bigger showing than in any recent general election.

While the original consultation was meant to last just four months, a High Court challenge by SSE and by local authorities in a parallel action forced the Government to reconsult, effectively prolonging the consultation by a further seven months.

Despite the Government's hopes, today (2007) plans for a second runway are still as far away from realisation as they were when the White Paper was first published. Instead of the 2011 target date from the White Paper, 2015 is now acknowledged in the 2006 Progress Report by the Government to be the earliest possible date by which a second runway could be constructed at Stansted, even assuming planning permission could be secured.

The Progress Report also indicates a shift in attitude towards the expansion plans for Stansted which is no longer identified as the first priority, the Government having shifted responsibility for the timing of the development onto the airport's owner, BAA, in recognition of the difficulty with regard to commercial viability as well as the major planning difficulties which are faced as a result of the strength of local opposition.