Heathrow Runway – Stars Up In Arms

A green charity has come up with an unsual way to thwart plans for a third runway at Heathrow. A field in the middle of the proposed site has been purchased by Greenpeace, and divided so it is part owned by many people including celebs Emma Thompson, Alastair McGowan and Zac Goldsmith. Thousands more people have come forward to buy a share in the field. As the compulsory purchase orders have to be delivered in person to each landowner, the aim is to make it almost impossible to carry out the work.

In the Evening Standard, Andrew Gilligan calls the third runway “a gift to the green movement”. He suggests that green ideals flourish in times of plenty, while the recession makes people less likely to enjoy the luxury of worrying about the environment. A campaign like that against the runway could raise people’s consciousness of environmental matters again.