Greenpeace Protesters buy land meant for planned third runway at Heathrow Airport

The controversy and protests regarding building a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport took a new turn with protestors buying the land meant for the new runway.

The environmental campaign group Greenpeace bought the land, located near Sipson village, off the the northern perimeter of London’s Heathrow Airport. The protesters wrote the words “Our Climate – Our Land” on the plot, which is a hectare (2.47 acres) of grassland.

They have pledged not to sell the land to the government or the British Airports authority (BAA), which owns Heathrow Airport, if the airport expansion is approved. UK think-tank wants ‘green’ conditions attached to planned third runway at Heathrow Airport

John Sauven, director of Greenpeace, said in a statement: “By buying the land, we have thrown a massive spanner in the engine driving Heathrow expansion.”

British media reports said that key Greenpeace campaigners – including Hollywood actress Emma Thompson, impressionist and actor Alistair McGowan and lawmakers from both the governing Labour Party and the opposition Conservative Party – bought the land for an undisclosed fee.

Greenpeace said the organisation gave “a piece of the title to the land” to Justine Greening, Conservative frontbench spokeswoman, and Susan Kramer, Liberal Democratic MP, and that it hopes to hand more of the land to others “in an attempt to complicate any attempt to force them to sell.”
In the statement, Greenpeace said that almost 5,000 supporters had signed up to become owners of “the soccer pitch-sized piece of land to make compulsory purchase more complicated.”

Greenpeace and other groups opposing a third runway at Heathrow Airport argue that the move by the British Airports authority to increase the number of flights at Heathrow Airport from 480,000 to 720,000 would create “unacceptable” levels of noise and pollution.

In contrast, Britain’s airport industry, aviation business and aviation union leaders contend that Heathrow Airport’s expansion is vital for the British economy’s long-term competitiveness. These supporters also say that the work on the new runway could create nearly 65,000 jobs.

The media quoted Emma Thompson as saying: “I don’t understand how any government remotely serious about committing to reversing climate change can even consider these ridiculous plans.”

Alistair McGowan remarked thus: “I’m in the fight for the long term. If it gets to the bulldozer stage, we’ll be here getting in the way.”

Greenpeace director John Sauven, according to BBC, said the group of new landowners would challenge any attempt by the government to force them to sell the plot. “As the new owners of the land where the government wants to build the runway,” Sauven added, “we’ll resist all attempts at compulsory purchase. The legal owners of the site will block the runway at every stage through the planning process and in the courts.”

London’s Heathrow Airport – which is also Europe’s busiest airport – at present operates at 99% of runway capacity and handles 67 million passengers a year.