THE FUTURE of the third runway at Heathrow hangs in the balance today – as Boris Johnson being urged to ditch it and spend the money levelling up the regions instead.
Judges are set to rule on four legal challenges this morning which could block the expansion of the hub airport – and the Prime Minister has threatened to pull his support.
The Times revealed ahead of the hearing today that Boris is unlikely to appeal to the Supreme Court if the 14billion third runway is blocked over environmental concerns – leaving the expansion project in tatters.
A group of councils in London, environmental charities including Greenpeace, Friends Of The Earth and Plan B, and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, brought legal action over the Government’s approval of the plans.
They accused ministers of failing to take into account climate change targets and the environmental impact of building a huge new runway.
Boris has long been anti-Heathrow expansion and once promised to “lie down in front of the bulldozers”.
As Foreign Secretary he was abroad on a foreign trip during the controversial vote to approve the third runway, which would impact on his Uxbridge constituency.
Under the plans a new runway would be set up northwest of the airport, with 950 acres of land being claimed and hundreds of homes demolished.
The PMs official spokesman yesterday lashed out at Heathrow, and warned it must do more to convince the Government of its plans.
Mr Johnsons spokesman said: Parliament has voted in principle to support a third runway at Heathrow, but it is a private sector project.
In order to proceed Heathrow must demonstrate it can meet its air quality and noise obligations, that the project can be financed and built and that the business case is realistic.
And this morning ex-Tory minister Theresa De Villiers urged Boris to pull the plug on the project.
She said: I think a new runway at Gatwick would have far less of an environmental impact.
So yes, I hope the government will think again about Heathrow expansion. I dont think it is the right way to address capacity needs in the aviation sector.
The boss of Heathrow John Holland-Kaye warned that if the expansion does not happen, that will drive traffic to fast-growing Paris-Charles De Gaulle airport which will then turn into the UKs main hub.
He said: Theres no global Britain without Heathrow expansion its as simple as that. If we dont expand our only hub airport, then were going to be flying through Paris to get to global markets.
Heathrows expansion was first improved by MPs in 2018, with then PM Theresa May enjoying a rare win.
The Government had a 296 majority with MPs voting 415 to 119 to give the go ahead for the expansion plan.
