Blogposts tagged 'Heathrow'

The battle over a 3rd runway for Heathrow became an iconic struggle between those of us who know the climate change threat is deadly serious, and those who preferred to gamble our collective future in search of short-term profit. And when that latter group includes such heavyweights as the Department for Transport and the British Airports Authority, you know you're in for a fight - even when the science is on your side.

In the event it took three years of hard campaigning, and the building of a huge coalition of civil society (including residents' groups Hacan and NoTRAG, local councils, Climate Camp, WWF and RSPB) to bring the runway plans down.

This morning we're proud to announce the winner of the Airplot Contest - our competition to find the ideal structure to fortify the Airplot so that, if the police come to turf us out, we can peacefully resist them. There were two categories - one for architects and architecture students to come up with some practical solutions for how we can defend the land, and the other open to everyone to let their imaginations off the leash.

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.

Campaigners leave the High Court victorious this morning after the result of a judicial review into the planned third runway at Heathrow declared that the plans were 'untenable'.

UPDATED 20 April 2010: Fantastic news! Both the climate and common sense have scored a major victory at the High Court today, where the Government's plans for a 3rd runway at Heathrow have been dealt a huge blow.