13/12/2004

Plans for a second runway at Stansted and other proposals to expand passenger capacity at Heathrow and Luton airports could be stopped in their tracks or radically rethought if the first-ever judicial review of a government white paper, due to start at the High Court today is successful.

A consortium consisting of Stop Stansted Expansion, the Heathrow campaign group HACAN, the Luton campaign group LADACAN and the London Boroughs of Hillingdon and Wandsworth has mounted the challenge to the air transport white paper. It will be heard in parallel with a second claim from a group of five Essex and Hertfordshire local authorities.

The High Court will hear evidence that the white paper addressing the future of air transport over the next 30 years, published last year, was fundamentally flawed.

One of the residents groups says that the government reached its conclusions in material breach of the process which should have been followed in the consultation and made substantial changes in the course of the consultation that the public were not advised about and therefore were not able to comment upon.

The challenge by Stop Stansted Expansion and its partners will highlight four key flaws in the White Paper:

• The absence of a commercial justification for a second Stansted runway, contrary to the Government's own requirements for the consultation.
• The failure to make clear in the consultation that the ending of runway alternation at Heathrow - a method of ensuring some respite from overflying for people living in West London - could be a short-term alternative to a third runway.
• The failure to consult on the extended runway proposals put forward for Luton (the consultation examined two completely different options for expanding the airport).
• The failure to provide information to the public about alternative development proposals for airports which had been submitted or to give proper consideration to these options and the failure to inform or consult the public about other fundamental shifts in the Government's position which took place during the course of the consultation.