Major legal threat to airport expansion plans

Opponents of plans to expand the UK’s airport are today mounting a legal challenge that could throw the Government’s plans into disarray. Groups including Stop Stansted Expansion and HACAN Clearskies, along with the London Boroughs of Hillingdon and Wandsworth and Essex County Council, will go to the High Court claiming that the Government has not clearly though through its plans, adding that “politicians should not decide where runways should be”. The BBC reports that one of the most fiercely opposed plans is the expansion of Stansted Airport which, campaigners claim, is illegal because the cost of a new runway would have to be met by income from Heathrow and Gatwick. The protestors also claim that there was no public consultation before the construction of a new runway at Luton, and that the Government did not give adequate consideration to proposals for completely new airports including one planned at the Isle of Sheppey, east of London. Lord Hanningfield, leader of Essex County Council, is quoted as saying: “We are going to the High Court because we want a judge to rule that there should be a proper inquiry. “We want a judge to say there has been inadequate preparation, consultation and thought before the Government came out with it green paper. Then there could be a proper debate nationally about where this extra capacity should go.” Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad Ltd