Coalition Of Anti-Heathrow Expansion Groups Welcome ‘Decisive Action’

Plans for Heathrow expansion met their first legal test on Thursday as claimants against the proposals seek to proceed their cases to full judicial review.

Five parties have lodged judicial review claims against the plans. The claims are against the Government’s National Policy Statement – which only included Heathrow expansion – which Parliament voted on in June 2018, despite many unanswered questions about the projects legality and wider environmental impact.

The five parties seeking judicial review include: A consortium of local authorities (Hillingdon, Hammersmith & Fulham, Richmond, Wandsworth and Windsor &  Maidenhead), Greenpeace and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Heathrow Hub Limited (promoters of a rival scheme to expand Heathrow Friends of the Earth Plan B, an environmental justice organization Neil Spurrier – a resident of Twickenham, Middlesex.

The No 3rd Runway Coalition, whose membership comprises a number of claimants, welcomed the process and warned that the process was now underway, with the chance to highlight the severe negative impacts the project would have.

"The legal actions against the government's decision to expand Heathrow is supported by a very large number of communities, who firmly believe that the negative environmental impact of this highly disruptive airport should not be allowed to grow," said Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition. “Having ignored evidence, such as the report of Parliament's Transport Select Committee, the decision to expand Heathrow was always going to end up in the courts, under judicial review, and we are delighted that the process has now started and welcome this decisive action by a number of parties.”

It is envisaged that the issues raised by the claimants (relating primarily to environmental impacts, and the ignoring or withholding of evidence in the decision-making process) will be heard in March 2019.

(Source: No 3rd Runway Coalition news release. Image from file)

FMI: www.no3rdrunwaycoalition.co.uk