Climate activists jubilant as expansion of Britain's Heathrow Airport blocked

[webfact]

Climate activists jubilant as expansion of Britain's Heathrow Airport blocked

By Alistair Smout and Sarah Young

 

A passenger aircraft makes it's final landing approach towards Heathrow Airport at dawn in west London Britain, April 18, 2016. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Files

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The planned expansion of London's Heathrow Airport was declared unlawful on environmental grounds by a court on Thursday, a ruling that could sink the $18 billion project that has been dogged by decades of dispute and indecision.

 

In a victory for climate change campaigners, an appeal court judge said that a failure to take into account the government's commitments on climate change was "legally fatal" to the plans to build a third runway at Europe's busiest airport.

 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been a vociferous opponent of the expansion, which was approved under the previous government. During last year's election campaign, he said he would have to find some way of honoring an old promise to lie down in front of bulldozers at Heathrow to halt the plans.

 

The government said it would not appeal the ruling, raising questions about the future of a project which has been hotly debated in Britain for almost half a century.

 

In order for the new runway to now proceed, the Department for Transport would need to amend its policy statement, but it was silent on the matter on Thursday.

 

"We take seriously our commitments on the environment, clean air and reducing carbon emissions. We will carefully consider this complex judgment and set out our next steps in due course," Transport Minister Grant Shapps said.

 

Heathrow Airport’s $18bln plan for a new runway is in doubt after a UK judge said it didn’t comply with the country’s commitments on climate change. Francesca Lynagh reports.

 

Heathrow and its supporters argue that Britain's exit from the European Union makes the expansion project critical to ensuring the country can increase trade with the rest of the world. The planned third runway would be the first full-length runway built in the London area for 70 years.

 

Heathrow is the United Kingdom's biggest port by value, accounting for 40% of exports in 2019, but its two runways are operating at full capacity, and the airport will in two years be eclipsed as Europe's busiest by Paris, after previous attempts to expand it failed.

 

Ten years ago, a plan for a new runway was scrapped, before a government-appointed commission carried out a three-year study which again recommended the expansion in 2015, giving rise to the latest project.

 

'EXCITING IMPLICATIONS'

The judge said that in its current form the government's policy failed to take into account climate change commitments made by the government when it signed up to the Paris Agreement in 2015.

 

"That, in our view, is legally fatal to the ANPS (Airports National Policy Statement) in its present form," said judge Keith Lindblom. The government will now have to rework the policy if it wants it to go ahead, he added.

 

Heathrow Airport, owned by Spain's Ferrovial, the Qatar Investment Authority and China Investment Corp, has said that it will appeal the decision in the Supreme Court, even though the government is not.

 

"This is not the end of the road. This is very fixable," CEO John Holland-Kaye told Sky News on Thursday.

 

Heathrow believes that a recently launched UK aviation industry plan to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 will help it see the decision overturned.

 

Environmental campaigners such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, and the local authorities who oppose the expansion were delighted with the ruling, saying the recognition of climate change commitments could have consequences for other projects.

 

"This judgment has exciting wider implications for keeping climate change at the heart of all planning decisions," said Will Rundle, Friends of the Earth's head of legal.

 

Under the 14 billion pound ($18.2 billion) expansion plan, Heathrow's new runway would open in 2028. Should it be scrapped, airlines and business groups will be seeking answers on where new capacity can be added as Britain's second busiest airport, Gatwick, south of London, is also full in the summer months.

 

In 2014, Johnson favored a 112-billion-pound plan to build a new airport in the Thames Estuary, but the Airports Commission rejected it as being too expensive, risky and complicated.

 

Global airline industry body International Air Transport Association (IATA) called on Britain to back the Heathrow project.

 

"The government must show leadership, back expansion, and ensure that the UK gets the sustainable airport capacity it needs to retain its place as a global trading nation," said IATA's CEO and director general Alexandre de Juniac.

 

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Writing by Sarah Young; Editing by James Davey/Guy Faulconbridge/Pravin Char)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-28

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[thaibeachlovers]

Excellent news, but we won't win till the entire airport is closed and moved elsewhere that doesn't disrupt the lives of vast numbers of citizens.

[thaibeachlovers]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

In 2014, Johnson favored a 112-billion-pound plan to build a new airport in the Thames Estuary, but the Airports Commission rejected it as being too expensive, risky and complicated.

Reclamation technology is not new. The airport commission just don't want to move the airport, IMO. They'd rather ruin the lives of countless people than do the right thing.

However, they also need to build another airport on the west coast for trans Atlantic flights.

[Baerboxer]

11 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Excellent news, but we won't win till the entire airport is closed and moved elsewhere that doesn't disrupt the lives of vast numbers of citizens.

 

And where might that be? 

[digger70]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Climate activists jubilant as expansion of Britain's Heathrow Airport blocked

What next ,Down sizing off airports less planes ? Why not go the whole Hog No more planes and  cars Busses/taxis /motorbikes /trucks/no more machines  . Go back everyone traveling on the good old Push Bike  No more Climate activists Whining (They do travel on planes and in cars too don't they) ? 

[ivor bigun]

33 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Excellent news, but we won't win till the entire airport is closed and moved elsewhere that doesn't disrupt the lives of vast numbers of citizens.

 

Edited February 28, 2020 by ivor bigun

[ivor bigun]

1 minute ago, ivor bigun said:

 

The airport was there before most of the houses ,but i do agree ,no 3rd runway .

[thaibeachlovers]

2 minutes ago, ivor bigun said:

The airport was there before most of the houses ,but i do agree ,no 3rd runway .

Yes, but not when there were hundreds of flights a day, and as a post WW2 airport no jets.

[ivor bigun]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Yes, but not when there were hundreds of flights a day, and as a post WW2 airport no jets.

believe me i sympathise with anyone who has lived there for 60 yrs ,its got noisier ,but like church bells when newcomers complain of the noise ,just dont go and live near there . 

there is no way on Gods earth Heathrow is going to be moved ,

 

[from the home of CC]

no worries, Greta is on her way to straighten you all out..

[Krataiboy]

2 hours ago, digger70 said:

What next ,Down sizing off airports less planes ? Why not go the whole Hog No more planes and  cars Busses/taxis /motorbikes /trucks/no more machines  . Go back everyone traveling on the good old Push Bike  No more Climate activists Whining (They do travel on planes and in cars too don't they) ? 

Don't hold your breath. The lunacy is only just beginning.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, ivor bigun said:

believe me i sympathise with anyone who has lived there for 60 yrs ,its got noisier ,but like church bells when newcomers complain of the noise ,just dont go and live near there . 

there is no way on Gods earth Heathrow is going to be moved ,

 

I think Windsor Palace and Eton were there a bit before Heathrow airport. ( they are under the flight path )

[Chomper Higgot]

56 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I think Windsor Palace and Eton were there a bit before Heathrow airport. ( they are under the flight path )

Eton protested the arrival of the railway, their objection ‘the boys will find it to easy to visit the sin-pots of London’.

 

I’m sure those not satisfied with the ‘in house’ variety did indeed make the journey.

[bert bloggs]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I think Windsor Palace and Eton were there a bit before Heathrow airport. ( they are under the flight path )

dont hear the Queen complaining .

[emptypockets]

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Reclamation technology is not new. The airport commission just don't want to move the airport, IMO. They'd rather ruin the lives of countless people than do the right thing.

However, they also need to build another airport on the west coast for trans Atlantic flights.

Why? It's not that far from London to the western most part of the UK.  Might save 10 quid in aviation fuel!

In fact London is not far from any part of the UK from an international aviation perspective.