The expert brought in to sort out a faulty report about the environmental impact of expanding Lelystad airport has resigned after it emerged he is married to the head of the independent committee set up to assess the revised research.

Stefan Morel told local paper De Stentor that he stood down after ‘locals began questioning my independence’.

‘I then stepped out of the project on my own accord to make sure that there is no question of me being able to influence the commission.’

Last year, 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.

Nevertheless, the government is pressing ahead with its plans to open Lelystad airport to commercial traffic from April 2019 despite protests from locals and airlines.