H&F Joins Councils Seeking Judicial Review of Heathrow Decision
But pro-expansion group say they should respect the will of parliament and local people
CGI image of how extended airport might look
Hammersmith & Fulham has joined four other local councils starting the process of seeking a judicial review into the Government’s decision to expand Heathrow.
Yesterday, Thursday 19 July they formally notified the Secretary of State for Transport that they intend to challenge policy support given in the Airports National Policy Statement for a third runway.
As well as H&F, the local authority group comprises the London Boroughs of Hillingdon, Wandsworth, Richmond, Windsor and Maidenhead Councils. They have also been joined by the Mayor of London and Greenpeace.
The councils are challenging the Government on the grounds of air quality, climate change, strategic environmental assessment including an alleged failure to properly to deal with the noise consequences and surface access impacts.
On air quality they say, amongst other things, that the Government has misunderstood and misapplied the law on air quality.
On surface access the councils say, amongst other things, that the NPS fails to recognise the scale of the challenge to accommodate additional trips without unacceptable effects on the transport network and pollution.
"We have given the Government numerous opportunities to address our concerns and answer our questions and they have demonstrably failed to do so,” said Cllr Stephen Cowan, Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
"The Government has misunderstood and misapplied the law on air quality, despite having already lost recent legal challenges on this issue. The evidence of unacceptable damage to the environment and the health and wellbeing of many thousands of people is untenable in both law and common sense."
Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said, "London's determination to kill off this environmentally ruinous and highly disruptive scheme is growing, so it's no surprise that the Mayor has joined the cross-party group of councils in their legal action.
“With the confidence of their lawyers high, the courts could be ruling out the third runway, once and for all, long before Heathrow have even had a chance to launch their campaign for a fourth".
Back Heathrow, the pro-expansion campaign group has said that the move is a continuation of the waste of taxpayers’ money by these councils.
Back Heathrow's Executive Director Parmjit Dhanda said, "Less than a month ago Parliament gave the green light to Heathrow expansion with a cross-party majority of nearly 300 MPs. Over 100,000 local people support this project, the CBI and the TUC back it too.
"The Independent Airport's Commission began this process with a clear report stating that the new runway can create 180,000 new jobs, reduce the number of households affected by noise and meet all environmental obligations.
"Yet these councils have failed to engage in this process or accept technological advances in aviation. Instead they have chosen to spend nearly £1 million of taxpayers’ money funding over the past decade on campaign groups and expensive lawyers. Its time they respected the views of local people, businesses, unions and the democratic will of Parliament."
The Government must now respond to the councils’ formal letter before action. If the Transport Secretary does not agree to a quashing of the NPS, then the local authorities will bring judicial review proceedings.
August 15, 2018