Heathrow expansion gets government go-ahead

Britain's supreme court has given the go-ahead for a £14 billion (€15.4 billion) expansion for Heathrow Airport, according to a lawyer involved in the case.

The plan has been stuck in limbo for a number of years following uphill legal battles and political issues.

The Court of Appeal ruled the expansion violated environmental rules at a hearing in February, but the UK's top court is set to overturn this ruling, according to the lawyers.

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Heathrow was the busiest aerospace hub in Europe prior to the pandemic and is also currently the largest airport in the UK.  

The Department for Transport laid out the foundations for the plan back in 2006 and met opposition from both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrat parties of the time. 

The lawyer close to the case, Tim Crosland, announced in a statement on Wednesday that the supreme court has overruled the Court of Appeal's verdict while adding he was in contempt of court by announcing the result before the court handed it down.

In an interview with Reuters, Crosland said: “I am breaking the court embargo on Heathrow to protest against the injustice of the verdict, which is a betrayal of the younger generation and those on the frontline of the crisis in the UK and around the world."

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The judge from the February case added the plan had failed to adapt to Britain's new commitments to battling climate change, citing it as a "fatal  error" for the legislature.

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