A group of councils have now been joined by a Harlington resident and Greenpeace who are backing the legal challenge.
A coalition of councils including Hillingdon which have banded together to prevent the expansion of Heathrow Airport have launched their legal bid.
A group of four councils, environmental campaigners Greenpeace and a Hillingdon resident have made a legal submission to the High Court calling for the Government’s decision to expand Heathrow to be overturned.
The authorities are seeking a judicial review and hope the third runway expansion will be abandoned because of “unlawful air quality impacts”, “the consultation was fundamentally flawed”, and because of the Government’s promise not to build a third runway.
‘The Government is breaking the law’
Leader of Hillingdon Council , Councillor Ray Puddifoot , said: “The Government has stubbornly refused to accept that it is breaking the law on the very important issue of air quality in relation to Heathrow.
“[The councils] have had no option other than to issue judicial review proceedings in the high court.
“In addition to our claim that there has been a significant breach of established air quality laws, we have also claimed that the Government has acted contrary to our legitimate expectation that it would honour its repeated promises not to expand Heathrow.”
Cllr Puddifoot added: “It has been made very clear to the Government that we have fully reserved our position in relation to other matters of complaint such as climate change, equalities, noise pollution and the economic case for Heathrow expansion that, if necessary, further legal proceedings will be brought in future.”
Ministers backed Heathrow expansion
Ministers backed the expansion of Heathrow Airport to include a third runway at the end of October, which sparked a warning from the group of councils that they would take legal action if the decision was not reversed.
Hillingdon, Richmond, Wandsworth and Windsor and Maidenhead councils, alongside Greenpeace, have now launched that action.
But Heathrow Airport has said it is confident the legal challenge will not stop the third runway from being built.
Pro-Heathrow expansion campaign group Back Heathrow called the legal action a waste of money, and said the councils should focus their resources on public services.
A legal challenge successfully overturned the Labour Government’s decision to expand Heathrow in 2010, which prompted David Cameron’s incoming Conservative administration to abandon the plan.
The authorities have been joined by Harlington resident Christine Taylor, who is a co-claimant in the judicial review.
