Good news from Plan B Earth from legal pre-hearing, of the Heathrow runway JRs, at the Court yesterday.
Date added: 16 January, 2019
Plan B Earth say the Government has now formally conceded it did not consider Heathrow expansion against the Paris Agreement temperature limit. “We now need to convince the Court that ignoring the boundary between humanity and catastrophe is not a great idea.”
In total 1,582 people signed the petition for open justice & live-streaming of the trial (10 days from 11th March). On this, Plan B have got the Court thinking. They’ve asked for further submissions from Plan B on the issue and, given that this has never happened before in the High Court, they want to talk to other judges about the implications. Judge Holdate indicated we should have a ruling on the issue 2 weeks before the start of the trial.
But that’s already a major step forward. Not just for this case. But for open justice in the UK. We need the full hearings into the judicial reviews against the government’s approval of a 3rd Heathrow runway, to be live-streamed so people can see what is said. Otherwise only at most 150 people in the court (2 courts to be used) will be able to hear.
This case is of huge importance to the UK’s carbon targets in coming decades, and the UK’s ability to take its responsibilities to the Paris Agreement seriously. (Saying the right thing is not enough – the UK government has to show, by its actions, it is serious about reducing UK CO2. In this case, CO2 from the aviation sector).
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Plan B combines mobilisation and litigation to hold power to account for climate breakdown, fighting for the future for all people, all animals and all life on earth.
“We’re taking the UK Government to court over its dangerous climate targets and reckless plans to expand Heathrow Airport. Join us!”
Lots more details about the Heathrow case at
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including their amended grounds of claim at
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Campaigners protest Heathrow expansion outside High Court
By Sam Tobin (Morning Star)
15.1.2019
CAMPAIGNERS protested outside the High Court today against much-criticised plans to expand Heathrow.
A coalition of councils, residents, environmental charities and London Mayor Sadiq Khan are challenging the government’s decision to approve the building of a third runway at the airport west of London.
Dozens of supporters staged a demonstration outside the Royal Courts of Justice ahead of a pre-trial hearing.
Speaking outside court, Green Party London Assembly member Caroline Russell said: “There are many, many reasons, in terms of air pollution and noise pollution, that Londoners might oppose Heathrow expansion.
“But obviously the most important reason is climate breakdown, and if we now press ahead with any expansion … we will be utterly failing in our global responsibilities to our planet and the people who live on it.”
At the hearing, environmental charities Plan B and Friends of the Earth will ask Mr Justice Holgate to order that the substantive two-week hearing, which begins on March 11, be streamed live.
Plan B director Tim Crosland said the case “raises issues of exceptional concern to the population at large” and that there was “therefore an inherent democratic value” in live-streaming proceedings.
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 in September.
A Department for Transport (DfT) spokesman said: “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.”
Construction could begin in 2021, with the third runway operational by 2026.
In a statement ahead of the hearing, Laura MacKenzie from Friends of the Earth said: “The government should never have entertained the idea of a climate-wrecking third runway, with Heathrow already the UK’s single biggest source of emissions.
“Support for airport expansion ignores the severity of the climate crisis and the harm that it is already inflicting on people and nature around the world, including right here in the UK.
“The government should cancel the third runway and adopt fair and equitable policies to keep aviation demand within environmental limits.”
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Posted: Wednesday, January 16th, 2019. Filed in Climate Change News, News about Airports, Recent News.
