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Green activists warn of 'almighty battle' ahead
Rashid Razaq15 Jan 2009
ENVIRONMENTAL groups warned Heathrow bosses to expect years of disruption to prevent the construction of a third runway, set to be given the go-ahead today.
Anti-aviation activists have vowed to chain themselves in the path of bulldozers and to mount a series of legal challenges to the airport's expansion.
Greenpeace said a government green light would spark an "almighty battle", after revealing more than 10,000 people had signed up in less than 24 hours to buy a field where the runway is due to be built.
Ben Stewart, the group's aviation spokesman, said: "This runway will categorically never be built. The Government will start a battle, the likes of which this country has never seen, if they approve the expansion.
"For a start, we now own part of the runway and we're never going to give it up."
Emma Thompson, Alistair McGowan and Zac Goldsmith are among the thousands of people to have become joint owners of the earmarked development land in the village of Sipson.
Greenpeace is confident its lawyers will be able to delay Heathrow operator BAA in the courts for several years. "If you look at how the climate debate has changed in the last five years, imagine what it could be in another five years with more scientific evidence on our side," Mr Stewart said. "Public opposition is so strong that BAA will eventually be forced to back down."
Greenpeace has also warned that an expansion would cost Labour MPs their seats in the election and destroy the Prime Minister's environmental credentials. "There is a huge contradiction in Gordon Brown's statements that he is serious about environmental policy. You don't show that by expanding the world's biggest international airport and creating the single biggest carbon emitter in the UK," said MrStewart.
Direct action group Plane Stupid said it had thousands of volunteers who are willing to risk their safety to prevent building work getting under way. Spokesman Wiz Baines said: "We're going to see a much bigger version of the Eighties anti-roads movement.
"This has become a rallying point across the political spectrum and changed people's perception of the importance of climate change."
Environmental activists are working with local residents and are preparing to occupy the proposed runway site for a drawn-out period if necessary.
What's next?
2009: BAA can now apply to Hounslow council for planning permission. However the local authority has steadfastly opposed the expansion and is likely to reject the application, which would prompt a public inquiry.
2009-2011: the public inquiry could take up to two years to resolve, going on previous cases such as Terminal 5. BAA would then be in a position to obtain Compulsory Purchase Orders for homes and businesses in Sipson where residents and owners are refusing to leave, in addition to the parcel of land acquired by Greenpeace.
2011-2014: It could take another three years of legal wrangling before construction gets under way once the planning process is complete. Greenpeace has vowed to dig its heels in and could take the case to the High Court and the House of Lords if it has deep enough pockets. However the real obstacle would be if the owners of the 700 homes due to be demolished all decide to mount challenges. BAA would not have to settle each individually if the third runway is deemed in the public interest and it wins the first test case.
2014: It could take another six months before bulldozers start on site if police have to physically remove activists. BAA could at this point apply for planning permission for a sixth terminal to support the runway.
2020: Allowing for unforeseen delays, the runway should be operational.
2025: The estimated operational date for a sixth terminal.
Reader views (3)
The anarchists must be smacking their lips at all of the mayhem and damage they can cause by usurping future protests.
- Rogan, Irving, 15/01/2009 19:33
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no way will i vote for labour next election we have enough planes over our heads now doing meaningless journeys havent been in a plane for 8 years now ive all i need in b isles
- C May, bromley, 15/01/2009 15:00
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Given the state of democracy under this Government expect any 'Public Enquiry' to be steamrollered through, if held at all; the forthcoming enquiry at Stansted over the proposed second runway there was going to get such steamroller treatment (done and dusted in 6 months) although they are now reconsidering I hear. The situation of airport expansion stinks in the UK-of false accounting, environmental lies, and a general supine attitude to the aviation lobby. Meanwhile the rest of Europe gets on with expanding high-speed rail travel-the right way to do it.
- Jon Kent, Hertford. UK, 15/01/2009 12:52
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