So we went to the High Court for the last time yesterday morning to tie up the loose ends of the Heathrow Judicial Review. Compared to the excitement of the day when the judge delivered his ruling last month, things were a bit more low key, although important nonetheless.
The judge had to decide who should pick up the tab for the case. Unfortunately for the current Transport Secretary, Lord Adonis, he's going to have dig deep into his pockets because the judge ordered the government to pay 60% of our legal bills.
And the bad news for Lord Adonis didn't stop there.
In what the judge described as 'a major concession', Lord Adonis was forced to sign a legal guarantee not to use their outdated aviation white paper as the basis for their new national policy statement on aviation.
Since this is the document which underpins not only their plans to build a third runway at Heathrow, but also to expand other airports across the country, this means that the government must now rewrite their aviation policy so that it is consistent with Britain's climate change targets.
Essentially, whilst we've all known for a while that the government's aviation policy was on life support, today was the day Adonis signed the death certificate.
Of course, there was one person who didn't realise that the policy was dead until today, Lord Adonis himself, who on the 26th of March stated “I welcome this ruling” and continued –
“Today's judgment marks no change whatsoever in the policy on Heathrow. The process that was in place before this judgment is exactly the same process as will take place after this judgment.”
As he writes the cheque for the legal bill and considers the judge's comment that the coalition have 'substantially won' the case, he might want to rewrite his quote along with his aviation policy.
Help us to keep up the pressure by becoming a beneficial owner of Airplot - the piece of land we've acquired in the middle of the Third Runway site at Heathrow. Join the Plot now!, before the deeds are finalised on May 1st.
