High Court date for third runway plan
Challenge made to Heathrow expansion
TRANSPORT: Plans for a third Heathrow Airport runway will be heard in full by High Court judges next year, after a hearing yesterday. Councils, residents, charities and Mayor of London are challenging the plans.
A LEGAL challenge over controversial plans to expand Heathrow Airport will be heard in full by High Court judges early next year, following an initial hearing yesterday.
A coalition of councils, residents, environmental charities and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan are challenging the Government’s decision to approve the building of a third runway.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Holgate dealt with preliminary issues in the case, which is due to be heard over two weeks in March.
The case is being brought against Transport Secretary Chris Grayling by local authorities and residents in London affected by the expansion and charities including Friends of the Earth and climate change charity Plan B.
The coalition claims the government’s National Policy Statement (NPS) setting out its support for the project fails to properly deal with the impact on air quality, climate change, noise and congestion.
A spokesman for Mr Khan said he was “greatly concerned about the impact of a third runway on air quality, noise pollution and also on public transport”.
Before the hearing, a crowd of about 50 demonstrators gathered outside court to hear speeches from prominent opponents of the expansion including shadow chancellor John McDonnell and Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley. Mr McDonnell, whose Hayes and Harlington constituency is one of those affected by the plans, said up to 4,000 homes could be damaged or lost if the third runway goes ahead. “It isn’t just our homes, it isn’t just our community, this is our planet itself,” he added.
Support from Labour MPs helped push through the proposals to expand Europe’s busiest airport with an overwhelming majority of 296 in a Commons vote last month.
Mr Grayling said the new runway would set a “clear path to our future as a global nation in the post-Brexit world”. Construction could begin in 2021, with the third runway operational by 2026.
A Heathrow spokeswoman said: “We are participating in the legal challenges as an interested party given our role as the promoter of this critically important, national project. We remain focused on the work needed for our development consent order submission in 2020 and we are getting on with the delivery of this project.”
A Department for Transport spokeswoman added: “Expansion at Heathrow is a critical programme which will provide a boost to the economy, increase our international links and create tens of thousands of new jobs. Today’s hearing does not impact on the work Heathrow is undertaking on its application for planning consent, or the timetable to deliver this much-needed runway.”
It isn’t just our homes and community, this is our planet itself. Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.