Heathrow Runway Plans Blocked; Incompatible with Climate Laws

Landmark plans to add a third runway to Heathrow Airport have been blocked on environmental grounds.

The government’s decision to allow the runway was deemed illegal and incompatible with the UK’s climate commitments surrounding the Paris Agreement which pushes participating countries to reduce their carbon output and halt global warming.

Environmental campaigners who had opposed the plans since 2018, celebrated the ruling. Will Rundle, head of legal at Friends of the Earth, stated climate change should be “at the heart of all planning decisions.”

“It’s time for developers and public authorities to be held to account when it comes to the climate impact of their damaging developments.”, he added.

The government have said they won’t fight the decision and will instead look elsewhere in exploring the airport’s expansion.

Heathrow Airport, however, are looking to take the ruling to the Supreme Court, stating that the issue brought up is “eminently fixable.”

According to the Department for Transport, a third runway would boost the wider economy by up to £61 billion, create up to 77,000 local jobs by 2030, and help an increasing number of passengers travelling by plane.

However, there is prolonged controversy over the plans. Heathrow is already the UK’s busiest airport, serving about 80 million passengers yearly, and arguments have been made concerning increased levels of noise and emission-based pollution from more flights.

The new airstrip would cross over the often-congested M25 motorway, and an estimated 750 homes in the Longford, Sipson, and Harmondsworth villages could be flattened to make way for it.

John Stewart of Hacan group said, “The impact on local people could be severe for many years to come. Disruption from construction, the demolition of homes, the reality of more than 700 extra planes a day.”

It’s also important to note that the verdict does not bring the plans to a definitive end. The judges on the Court of Appeal said that a third runway may still happen as long as it fits with the environmental criteria that the UK has agreed upon.

Boris Johnson has been a critic of the project since before his time as PM, vowing in 2015 to lie down in front of bulldozers to stop work at the site.

The Labour government originally approved the runway back in 2009, citing economic reasons from former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. This was later scrapped by David Cameron a year later.

Under Theresa May’s leadership, the plans were reawakened in light of London’s airport capacity problem brought up by an Airports Commission in 2015.

Most recently, The Conservatives’ 2019 election manifesto stated that Heathrow must demonstrate that it can meet air quality and noise obligations if a third runway were to go through.