Ministers accept court ruling over Heathrow runway plans

Ministers appeared to wash their hands of plans for a third runway at Heathrow by accepting a critical Court of Appeal ruling which found that Heathrow’s existing policy on the expansion was unlawful and failed to take full account of the environmental impact.

It was announced that the government would not appeal against the judgment, however Heathrow confirmed that it will challenge the decision via the Supreme Court.

Angus Walker, Partner in our planning and infrastructure team, comments:

‘I would think that Heathrow Airport Ltd’s chance of success in the Supreme Court was slim in the light of the ruling. Even if they were successful it might well be a Pyrrhic victory, as the government might by then have decided to start a review of the national policy statement in the light of this judgment.’

The full article is available to subscribers of The Times, here.