Heathrow Airport today won a Supreme Court challenge over the Government’s decision to give the go-ahead for a third runway.
A panel of five justices at the UK’s highest court allowed Heathrow to expand by building the controversial third runway after the Court of Appeal declared the plans were unlawful.
In February three judges concluded that the expansion failed to take into account the Government’s commitments on climate change enshrined in the Paris Agreement.
Heathrow Airport Ltd, which owns and operates the west London airport, challenged that ruling at a two-day hearing before a panel of five justices in October.
Giving a summary of the Supreme Court’s ruling today, Lord Sales said then-Transport Secretary Chris Grayling’s decision was lawful and he was under ‘no obligation’ to discuss the Paris Agreement separately in the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS).
Heathrow Airport Ltd called the ruling ‘the right result for the country’ and would ‘allow global Britain to become a reality’. A spokesman added: ‘Only by expanding the UK’s hub airport can we connect all of Britain to all of the growing markets of the world, helping to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in every nation and region of our country.’
But Justine Bayley, treasurer of the Stop Heathrow Expansion campaign and a resident of Harmondsworth who faces having to leave her home if the third runway is built, said she was ‘disappointed’ by the result and had ‘hoped sense would prevail’.
Green activists waving flags bearing the Extinction Rebellion logo gathered outside the Supreme Court following the announcement, where they held banners reading ‘climate emergency’. One protester was arrested for throwing red paint on the court walls and windows.
Environmental groups and other opponents of the expansion project described the outcome as ‘incredibly disappointing’ but insisted there ‘remains real doubt’ about whether the third runway will ever happen.
Boris Johnson is a longstanding opponent of a third runway, having once promised to ‘lie down in front of those bulldozers and stop construction’ back when he was Mayor of London. In February, he said there was ‘no immediate prospect’ of construction beginning.
As the Supreme Court allowed Heathrow to expand:
- Top justice said that Mr Grayling had taken Paris Agreement into account;
- GMB called ruling ‘welcome boost’ at the end to a gruelling year for aviation workers who have seen their industry brought to its knees by the pandemic;
- Friends of the Earth said judgement is a ‘huge advancement’ in the battle against the third runway and the ‘climate catastrophe facing the world’;
- Stop Heathrow Expansion pressure group called 2020 ‘the worst year ever’;
- Green politicians bemoaned the ‘incredibly disappointing’ and ‘backwards’ ruling and claimed ‘commercial interests have won out’;
- Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell vowed to continue to fight the ruling ‘whether in the courts, in Parliament or in demos or occupations’.
An environmental activist campaigning against a third runway at Heathrow Airport is detained by police officers after throwing paint against the walls of the Supreme Court
Heathrow Airport has won a Supreme Court challenge over the Government’s decision to give the go-ahead for a third runway
Justine Bayley, treasurer of the Stop Heathrow Expansion campaign and a resident of Harmondsworth who faces having to leave her home if the third runway is built, said she was ‘disappointed’ by the result and had ‘hoped sense would prevail’
Police officers staff the entrance to the Supreme Court behind campaingers for and against a proposed third runway at Heathrow hold placards outside the Supreme Court in London
Lord Sales added: ‘(The court) finds that the Secretary of State did take the Paris Agreement into account. He was not legally required to give it more weight than he decided was appropriate, in line with the advice of the Committee on Climate Change.
‘The (Airports) National Policy Statement is not affected by any unlawfulness and is valid.’
The effect of the ruling, which overturned a previous High Court decision made in May last year, was that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps would have to review the ANPS to ensure it accords with the commitments on climate change.
The new runway northwest of Heathrow’s existing pair was recommended by the Davies Commission in 2015. The airport’s capacity would increase drastically from 480,000 takeoffs and landings each year to around 740,000 if the third runway were to be built.
The Court of Appeal had previously considered the case following a challenge by a group of councils in London affected by the expansion, environmental charities including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Plan B Earth, and London mayor Sadiq Khan.
The Government did not oppose the court’s declaration that the ANPS was unlawful and did not seek permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Tim Crosland, a lawyer involved in the campaign against the plans, had announced that the Supreme Court justices would allow the expansion yesterday, breaking a legal embargo ‘as an act of civil disobedience’.
Responding to the verdict, Warren Kenny, acting general secretary of the GMB union, said: ‘Today’s ruling is a welcome boost at the end to a gruelling year for aviation workers who have seen their industry brought to its knees by the pandemic.
‘This judgment is a much-needed injection of hope for economic recovery and the creation of many thousands of good, unionised jobs at Heathrow and in the wider supply chain.
‘The Government has no more excuses now. It’s time for ministers to step up and back Heathrow and the wider aviation industry with the support it needs to get itself flying once again.’
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell vowed to continue to fight the ruling ‘whether in the courts, in Parliament or in demos or occupations’.
He tweeted: ‘It is now down to Boris Johnson to fulfil his promise to oppose a 3rd runway if he’s to have any credibility as a local MP or as a Prime Minister seeking to tackle climate change.’
Green Party MP Caroline Lucas said: ‘This is incredibly disappointing news and takes us backwards in our response to the climate crisis.
‘Commercial interests have won out over the protection of our planet and the wellbeing of future generations.’
John Stewart, who chairs anti-Heathrow expansion group Hacan, said there ‘remains real doubt over whether the third runway will ever see the light of day’.
He argued that ‘recovery is all that is on Heathrow’s mind right now’ after the west London airport saw flight numbers plummet 90 per cent this year due to the hated pandemic. ‘A third runway remains no more than a distant and uncertain prospect,’ Mr Stewart added.
Caroline Russell AM, chairwoman of the London Assembly Environment Committee said: ‘Today’s Supreme Court decision on Heathrow Airport is a huge disappointment.
‘For years, the London Assembly along with other groups and local residents have routinely campaigned against the expansion of Heathrow Airport on grounds of noise and air pollution.
‘Heathrow is already the largest single emitter of carbon dioxide in the UK and is responsible for more CO2 emissions from international, scheduled passenger flights than any other airport globally.
‘Expansion is utterly incompatible with tackling the climate emergency and meeting targets set out in the Paris Agreement.’
An environmental activist campaigning against a third runway at Heathrow Airport is detained by police officers after throwing paint against the walls of the Supreme Court
Campaigners against a proposed third runway at Heathrow Airport hold a banner outside the Supreme Court in London which reads ‘climate emergency’
Campaigners against a proposed third runway at Heathrow Airport outside the Supreme Court
Greenpeace UK’s executive director John Sauven said: ‘Heathrow Ltd have squeaked out a belated legal win but history has moved on.
‘Now the ball is in the Government’s court, it’s hard to imagine Boris Johnson wanting to resurrect a project that makes no business or environmental sense.
‘With a UK-hosted climate summit just a year away, the Government should draw a line under this sorry saga.’
Paul McGuinness, who chairs the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said the ruling ‘may yet prove irrelevant with so much having changed since Heathrow was recommended for expansion’.
Will Rundle, head of legal at Friends of the Earth, said: ‘This judgment is no ‘green light’ for expansion.
A panel of five justices at the UK’s highest court allowed Heathrow to expand by building the controversial third runway after the Court of Appeal declared the plans were unlawful
‘It makes clear that full climate considerations remain to be addressed and resolved at the planning stage.
‘Heathrow expansion remains very far from certain and we now look forward to stopping the third runway in the planning arena.’
Caroline Russell, Green Party transport spokesperson and London Assembly member, said: ‘Heathrow expansion would be a disaster for London.
‘It already disrupts the health and quality of life of more than three times as many people as any other airport in Europe. Neither Londoners nor the planet can afford to see its size and damage grow.’
Richard Fremantle, who chairs pressure group Stop Heathrow Expansion, said: ‘It is official – 2020 is the worst year ever. Our climate is in a desperate state, our communities are going into yet another Christmas with Heathrow’s blight hanging over their heads.
‘It is now down to this Government to call Heathrow’s bluff and end this miserable project once and for all.’