A BACKWARD step for Britain’s economy and London’s post-Brexit position as Europe’s economic hub.
That’s the only sensible verdict on the Court of Appeal’s decision to back campaigners challenging a third runway at Heathrow Airport.
But the government’s decision not to appeal the decision is hardly surprising, even though Heathrow Airport will now take the battle to the Supreme Court.
Boris Johnson has been stuck between a rock and a hard place since his promise to oppose the expansion at all costs.
After being elected to parliament for Uxbridge in 2015, he said: “I will lie down in front of those bulldozers and stop the construction of that third runway.”
When the time came to vote for the expansion when he was a minister working for Theresa May, Boris decided to seek haven in Kabul, Afghanistan, of all places, so he didn’t have to cross the floor and resign from the cabinet.
Today the Transport Secretary had to toe an equally fine line while announcing the government would not appeal.
Grant Shapps said “airport expansion is a core part of boosting our global connectivity and levelling up across the UK” but he stressed the Heathrow expansion is “a private sector project which must meet strict criteria on air quality, noise and climate change, as well as being privately financed, affordable, and delivered in the best interest of consumers”.
The likes of the Extinction Rebellion celebrating the end of the Heathrow fight might be popping the champagne prematurely, however.
Heathrow confirmed almost immediately they would take the fight to the Supreme Court, with a confident spokesperson saying: “We will get it done the right way, without jeopardising the planet’s future.
“Let’s get Heathrow done.”
The problem is that the Court of Appeal’s decision to rule against expansion based on failing to take account of the Paris Agreement, non-CO2 emissions and emissions after 2050 is not sensible for the UK’s future.
If Heathrow isn’t developed, Paris’ Charles De Gaulle airport will simply take on the role as the UK’s main hub, at huge cost to our economy.
As Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye said today: “There’s no global Britain without Heathrow expansion — it’s as simple as that. If we don’t expand our only hub airport, then we’re going to be flying through Paris to get to global markets.”
How depressing would that be for post-Brexit Britain.
The government has pledged to carefully consider the judgement and set out its next steps in due course. There is a lot riding on this plan.
Will it involve, for example, strengthening smaller regional airports as part of the government’s push to economically strengthen the north?
Or do we revert back to the idea of adding capacity to Gatwick and Stansted airports?
A new Heathrow runway was first suggested right back in 1949, with the current proposal first announced in 2003. The lack of action 17 years on is beyond depressing.
