Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Peel Holdings to sell airports (Liverpool, Doncaster and Durham Tees Valley) to fund purchase of ports company?
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Birmingham Airport extension in doubt over road row
A £32 million road improvement plan to kick-start the airport's runway extension is in doubt – because funding arrangements may not be lawful. The A45 Coventry Road must be moved from the airport perimeter before work on the extension can begin. Birmingham City Council intends to split the cost with Solihull Council. There are concerns that the city council cannot be seen to directly fund the airport, which is a private company. (BP)
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Heathrow 3rd runway ‘kiboshed’ by High Court ruling – Lord Lawson’s opinions
Lord Lawson, a well know climate sceptic, has told the Lords he thinks the Climate Act should be suspended, in order to allow Heathrow's 3rd runway. He said "The third runway at Heathrow has been kiboshed by the courts as the direct and predictable result of the Government's absurd Climate Change Act, which was passed with enthusiasm and complete thoughtlessness and acclaimed by all parties in this House and the Commons."
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Carlisle Airport land wrangle leads to 45 job cuts at Stobart Group
A protracted dispute over grazing land at Carlisle Airport which has delayed the start of its £25 million redevelopment has apparently led to 45 workers being laid off. It is delayed because 4 farmers with grazing rights – including two whose leases cover land earmarked for a new warehouse and offices – are refusing to surrender the land, though offered "a six-figure sum" and alternative grazing land. They refuse to give up the over 200 acres.
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Heathrow Victory in the High Court – an assessment of what it means
John Stewart gives a brief assessment of what Lord Justice Carnwath's ruling means
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Heathrow protesters win third runway court victory
The government's plans for a 3rd runway at Heathrow were dealt a blow after Lord Justice Carnwath agreed with campaigners that climate change threats had not been taken seriously enough. In a complex judgment he branded the original position adopted in the government's authorisation as untenable, and ordered Whitehall officials to give a formal undertaking they would carry out a further policy review and include climate change in the new aviation NPS.(Guardian)
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Cheap flights from Heathrow are not a God-given right
Christian Wolmar says it’s time to give up on expanding Heathrow, after the High Court ruling yesterday said there had been insufficient consultation on the 3rd runway. The days of the State being able to bulldoze whole villages out of existence in the supposed "national interest" are long gone. Even the most fervent aviation supporters recognise that it is an environmentally damaging activity and the notion that cheap flights are a God-given right is nonsense.
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High Court Ruling throws expansion plans at Southend airport into question
Plans to expand Southend airport were thrown into serious doubt today when a High Court Judge said that the Government’s 2003 aviation policy didn’t fully take into account the effects of climate change. In a damning ruling Lord Justice Carnwath said that the 2003 ATWP – the basis for at airports around the country, including Southend – needs to be re-thought in the light of climate change and the UK’s Climate Change Act 2008.
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Birmingham: Time to scrap runway plans
Following a High Court judge's ruling against the decision to approve Heathrow's 3rd runway local environmental campaigners said the same should apply to plans for the expansion of Birmingham Airport. Lord Justice Carnwath ruled that the 2003 ATWP is obsolete because it is inconsistent with the Climate Change Act 2008. The government must prepare an NPS to establish the case before large infrastructure expansion can go ahead. (B'ham FoE)
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Stansted: Government airport policy in disarray after High Court ruling on Heathrow
Stop Stansted Expansion has welcomed a High Court ruling that the Government’s 2003 Air Transport White Paper is outdated and needs to be rewritten to take account of climate change targets. The judgment has major implications for airport expansion battles across the UK, effectively removing policy support for a 2nd runway at Stansted. The judge ruled that the carbon costs of aviation must be included when the economics of airport expansion. (SSE)