Although there was a lovely buzz around the office following last week's wonderful announcement that the Third Heathrow runway had been scrapped, the wiser heads amongst us were quick to point out that we'd won a battle, not a war.
Our new coalition government may have made good on its pre-election promises over Heathrow, but there have been no such commitments over the 30 or so airport expansions planned for other parts of the country - and they could easily prevent us reaching our CO2 reduction targets if a significant number get the go-ahead.
So it was great to hear that one of the proposed regional expansion projects, at Carlisle airport in Cumbria, will not now be proceeding. Plans by Stobart Air to build a haulage depot, and create a passenger and freight hub at the site, were rejected today by the Court of Appeal.
The Court upheld a challenge to the decision to grant consent to the scheme brought by local farmer Gordon Brown. The judges criticised Carlisle Council for not fully assessing the environmental impact of the plans. The Council was also refused permission to appeal further, and ordered to pay Mr Brown's substantial legal costs.
So we seem to be on a roll. Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick and now Carlisle all within the space of a week - woohoo! Next up is Bristol, where the local council meets to consider airport expansion plans on Monday.
Over 2,000 of us have already written to new Transport Minister Phillip Hammond to remind him that if the new government is serious about tackling climate change, it needs to draw up a new aviation policy, fit for the 21st century - one which admits the urgent need to slash our carbon output, and acknowledges that all airport expansion plans have to be stopped.
Bristol represents the first green test for Mr Hammond. If he is serious about getting a grip on the UK’s spiralling aviation emissions, he needs to stop this application going ahead.
Why not take a minute to tell him yourself, if you havent already done so?
