HEATHROW EXPANSION JUDICIAL REVIEW VERDICT Wednesday 1st May at 10 am at the High Court

Judgments on the legal challenges to the Government’s decision to permit Heathrow to apply for the expansion of its airport with a new 3rd Runway, will be announced at the High Court on Wednesday, 1 May, at 10am  The presiding judges, Justices Hickinbottom and Holgate, will be handing down judgments on the judicial review claims made by 5 separate parties that the Government’s Airports National Policy Statement (NPS), as approved by Parliament in June 2018, was unlawful.  Four of the claimants’ cases relate to undue consideration being given to the environment, noise and climate change.  Regardless of the Justices’ pronouncements, it is expected that appeals will be made against the judgments – whether by defendant (the government) or claimants.  Even if the judgments were to find in favour of the Secretary of State for Transport (DfT), and these were to then survive the appeals process, this is unlikely to mark the end of legal battles to expand Heathrow airport. Heathrow’s application for its Development Consent Order – DCO (the detailed planning application, which Heathrow is expected to submit in 2020) – is also certain to attract legal challenges.
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HEATHROW EXPANSION JUDICIAL REVIEW VERDICT TOMORROW

30th April 2019  (No 3rd Runway Coalition)

Judgments on the legal challenges to the Government’s decision to permit Heathrow to apply for the expansion of its airport with a new 3rd Runway, will be announced at the High Court on Wednesday, 1 May, at 10am (1).

The presiding judges, Justices Hickinbottom and Holgate, will be handing down judgments on the judicial review claims made by five separate parties that the Government’s Airports National Policy Statement (NPS), as approved by Parliament in June 2018, was unlawful.

Four of the claimants’ cases relate to undue consideration being given to the environment, noise and climate change (2). The fifth claimant, Heathrow Hub Ltd, claims that the Government was biased against its alternative scheme to expand Heathrow (through an extended Northern Runway).

Regardless of the Justices’ pronouncements, it is expected that appeals will be made against the judgments – whether by defendant (the government) or claimants.

However, even if the judgments were to find in favour of the Secretary of State for Transport, and these were to then survive the appeals process, this is unlikely to mark the end of legal battles to expand Heathrow airport.

Heathrow’s application for its Development Consent Order (the detailed planning application, which Heathrow is expected to submit in 2020) – is also certain to attract legal challenges.

Campaigners from the No 3rd Runway Coalition, and other organisations, will gather outside the High Court from 9am, on Wednesday, 1st May, when there will be photo opportunities before the judgment.

Ahead of the judgement, Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, the leading campaign organisation opposing the expansion of Heathrow, said:

“Expansion of Heathrow airport would be a major policy error for the UK. The consolidation of this aviation behemoth in the already well-endowed south east would further entrench the regional imbalance of the economy. It would be an environmental disaster.

Statistically, in terms noise and air pollution, it is already the world’s most highly disruptive airport – by dint of it operating at the heart of the UK’s most densely populated residential region. 

And such an expansion would militate against our country’s climate change commitments.

We’ll be at Court on Wednesday to hear the judgment. But whatever the verdict, the Government will need to revisit this foolish plan to expand Heathrow. It is poor policy-making on so many grounds that it will be challenged until defeated”.

 

Ends.

Notes:

 

  1. Exact Court room will be known on 30 April.
  2. Interviews from the No 3rdRunway Coalition available on request

3.The claimants consist of the following parties:

– Local authorities of Hillingdon, Wandsworth, Richmond, Hammersmith and Fulham, Windsor & Maidenhead, Greenpeace UK, with the Mayor of London

– Friends of the Earth Earth

– Plan B (environmental charity)

– Neil Spurrier (resident of Twickenham)

  • [there is also a legal challenge by “Heathrow Hub”, which wants to build the 3rd runway, but is unhappy with the government’s decision to exclude them]

For more information, contact Rob Barnstone on 07806947050 or rob@no3rdrunwaycoalition.co.uk

Robert Barnstone

Coordinator | No 3rd Runway Coalition