The fight goes on
CAMPAIGNERS PLAN JUDICIAL REVIEW AS PARLIAMENT APPROVES THIRD RUNWAY BY MASSIVE MAJORITY
THE government has easily won a vote on controversial plans for a third runway at Heathrow.
Support from Labour MPs helped push through the proposals to expanded Europe’s busiest airport with an overwhelming majority of 296.
Jeremy Corbyn’s party is officially opposed to the move, but allowed a free vote on the measure that is backed by unions like Unite.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said support for the new runway would “clear path to our future as a global nation in the post-Brexit world”.
He said: “This is a really important moment in the history of this House and the history of this country.”
Boris Johnson, a long-time opponent of expansion, missed the vote as he was in Afghanistan.
The Foreign Secretary, who could have been forced to quit the government if he had voted against it, was mocked for failing to appear with MPs shouting “where’s Boris?”
Tory former international trade minister Greg Hands, who resigned from the government to oppose Heathrow’s expansion, said the plans were “fundamentally flawed”.
He added: “But this vote is also about integrity and about the pledges we make to our electors.
“It is to be regretted it’s now not a free vote, but I urge colleagues to vote against this proposal tonight.”
Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald outlined Labour’s official opposition to Heathrow expansion and accused Mr Grayling of making “a complete shambles of a vital national project”.
Shadow chancellor and Hayes and Harlington MP John McDonnell, speaking from the Labour backbenches, warned that villages which have existed for 1,000 years will be “wiped off the face of the earth” by Heathrow expansion to enable a company to maximise its profits.
He said: “There are human costs to this decision that this House needs to recognise and contemplate before they vote tonight to worry and blight my community once again on a programme that will never - pardon the pun - take off.”
A GROUP of councils and campaigners opposed to Heathrow expansion are preparing to take the government to court after MPs voted in favour of the project.
They are planning to start a judicial review against the decision to support a third runway.
The challenge will be launched by four London local authorities affected by the expansion – Wandsworth, Richmond, Hillingdon and Hammersmith and Fulham – in partnership with Greenpeace and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.
They claim that the proposals pose a significant threat to health and the environment and that ministers have failed to properly consider the runway’s impact on air pollution.
Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven said: “This Heathrow flight has failed all safety checks, yet ministers have boarded it anyway and persuaded a majority of MPs to go along with them.
“But we can’t just look the other way while the whole dashboard flashes red with warning lights.
“The UK government won’t be able to tackle illegal levels of air pollution, never mind leaving a healthier environment to the next generation, if a new Heathrow runway is built.
“If ministers don’t want to uphold the laws protecting us from toxic fumes and climate change, we’re going to ask a court to do that.”
John Stewart, chairman of Hacan, a residents’ group which has campaigned against a new runway for the past 15 years, said: “A third runway will turn peaceful areas of London and the Home Counties into torrents of noise as planes pass over at a rate of one every 90 seconds.
“Up to 100,000 people could experience relentless noise for the first time.
“Of course the new runway is not a done deal.
“This vote simply permits Heathrow to draw up detailed plans which in due course will need to be approved by a planning inquiry before construction can start.”
A third runway will turn peaceful areas of London and the Home Counties into torrents of noise Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven