Bristol Airport campaigners claim Heathrow court ruling will block expansion
28.03.10
Campaigners opposed to the £150 million expansion of Bristol Airport claim the plans could be thrown out in the light of a High Court ruling on the third runway at Heathrow. Anti-expansion groups say a judge's ruling that the Government should rethink its support for a proposed runway in the light of its own policy on climate change will also apply to plans to develop Bristol too.
The campaigners say the decision by Lord Justice Carnwath throws the 2003 Aviation White Paper – the policy document that called for expansion of Heathrow, Bristol and other airports around the country – into doubt. However, Bristol Airport bosses have rejected the claims, and insist the High Court case is ‘very specific’ to Heathrow.
Lord Justice Carnwath said the Government's policy support for a third runway, made in 2003 and confirmed in January last year, will need to be looked at again - meaning a new White Paper and consultations, which could take years - in the light of the Climate Change Act 2008, which sets targets for emissions. The judge said he was not able to hold that the points raised amounted to a ‘show-stopper – in the sense that the only rational response would be to abandon the whole project’ and refused to quash the Government's decision to ‘confirm policy support’ for a third runway.
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