Court rules Heathrow third runway illegal over climate change concerns

Thursday 27th February 2020 06:45 EST
 
 

On Thursday 27th February the court of appeal gave a judgment opposing the plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport. Ruled “illegal” by the court of appeal around climate change concerns, it is seen as a major blow to the project when the Government had given it a go-ahead in 2018 after MPs backed it by a large majority.

However, the judge has asserted that the ministers did not adequately take into account the government’s climate change commitments. Now, Boris Johnson, could use the ruling to abandon the project, or the government could draw up a new policy document to approve the runway. Lord Justice Lindblom said,

“The Paris Agreement ought to have been taken into account by the Secretary of State. The National Planning Statement was not produced as the law requires.” He said the government had seen the ruling in advance but did not seek permission to appeal to the supreme court.

Johnson had opposed the runway, in 2015 where he had said that he would “lie down in front of those bulldozers and stop the construction”. Heathrow is already one the busiest airports in the world, with 80 million passengers a year. The £14bn third runway could be built by 2028 and would bring 700 more planes per day and a big rise in carbon emissions.

Heathrow and proponents of the third runway say it would provide an economic boost and is important for international business, particularly after Brexit. Now, the court of appeal did not overturn the high court’s dismissal of the other challenges related to air and noise pollution, traffic, and the multibillion pound cost of the runway. But has insisted that the ministers did not take into consideration the Government’s zero net carbon emission drive.

The opponents and Heathrow airport are likely to appeal to the Supreme Court on the issue and optimistic of winning the case in their favour.

This comes at a time when only recently Arora Group founder Surinder Arora announced stepping down from CEO to executive chairman to focus on developing the group’s Heathrow West new terminal proposal.

The court’s ruling is the first in the world to be based on the Paris agreement and may have an impact both in the UK and around the globe by inspiring challenges against other high carbon projects.


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