Heathrow third runway judicial review bid to 'expose many failings' of plans

A judicial review has been submitted to the High Court against plans to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport .

Hillingdon Council has joined together in partnership with the boroughs of Wandsworth, Richmond , Hammersmith & Fulham and The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to fight the plans which were passed through the House of Commons in June .

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and pressure groups including Greenpeace are also behind the bid.

The partners’ lawyers will seek to persuade a High Court judge that Transport Secretary Chris Grayling unlawfully designated the Airports National Policy Statement (NPS) under the Planning Act 2008, because it does not meet air quality and environmental standards, would destroy wildlife habitats and has been inadequately consulted on.

Leader of Hillingdon Council Ray Puddifoot has said for many years that the local authority would seek to block the plans as soon as the government attempted to pass them .

A similar High Court review led to previous plans for a third runway being defeated in 2010.

Councillor Puddifoot said on Monday (August 6): “Once again we have a government that is trying to avoid applying both the correct legal process and common sense to the question of airport expansion.

“The abject failure to address the far reaching consequences for both the environment and the health and wellbeing of tens of thousands of residents across London is simply not acceptable."

Cllr Puddifoot continued: “This council is not prepared to stand back and allow this to happen without submitting the many flaws in this project to the rigorous scrutiny of the High Court and beyond, if necessary.

“I have confidence in the judicial process and am hopeful that, as with the previous judicial review challenge which was heard back in 2010, the court will expose the many failings of this ill-thought-through project”.

In response to the legal challenge, a Department for Transport spokesman said: “As the secretary of state has made clear, we are confident in the decision-making process which led to designation of the Airports National Policy Statement and stand ready to defend it robustly.”

Some have criticised Hounslow’s decision not to join the group behind the judicial review, but council leader Steve Curran said the council’s position had always been clear that it wants a “better not bigger” Heathrow.

Cllr Curran didn’t rule out joining the judicial review process at a future stage, but said his council had to be careful to reflect the mixed opinions about the airport in the borough while being cautious over spending taxpayer’s money on a legal.