Opponents to a third runway at
Heathrow have lost their legal challenge at the High Court.
Four judicial reviews were brought
on a total of 22 grounds of challenge, including inconsistency with the 2016
United Nations Paris Agreement on climate change, by London Borough of
Hillingdon and adjacent boroughs who will be affected by the extra noise and
pollution, the Mayor of London, environmental groups and an individual. The
promoters of a rival Heathrow scheme brought a fifth judicial review.
Argument centred on whether the
government’s National Policy Statement supporting the expansion failed to take
account of the impact on noise, climate change and levels of pollution, in Spurrier
& Ors v Secretary of State for Transport (Heathrow judgments) [2019]
EWHC (Admin) 1070.
Tim Crosland, director of
environmental group Plan B, said the court had upheld the government’s
‘surprising contention that the Paris Agreement is “irrelevant” to government
policy on climate change’.
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