Civil servants at the Department for Transport (Dft) may not be neutral regarding airport expansion, according to John Stewart, chairman of anti-Heathrow expansion group Hacan.

Mr Stewart highlighted the appointment of Heathrow airport’s former PR director, Simon Baugh, to group director of communications at the Dft, as of March 30.

Mr Stewart said: “You can’t help but get the feeling that the fans of Heathrow expansion are flocking to the Department for Transport.

“I just hope that the Prime Minister is getting even-handed advice from his civil servants.”

During his time at the airport, Mr Baugh oversaw the launch of the Back Heathrow campaign aimed at garnering more support for expansion, but a spokesman from the Dft said he would not be involved in advising ministers on issues relating to the Airports Commission for the first six months of his appointment.

The spokesman said: “The Civil Service Code requires all civil servants to act with impartiality and not in a way that unjustifiably favours or discriminates against particular individuals or interests.

“The team working on airport capacity issues has been structured to ensure that no-one returning from the Airports Commission Secretariat works in the team specifically tasked with reviewing the Airports Commission’s final report.”