SSE & HEATHROW CAMPAIGNERS AT THE HIGH COURT IN LONDON

L to R: John Stewart (Chair, HACAN); William Chastell (SSE supporter);
Carol Barbone(SSE Campaign Director); Ray Woodcock (SSE supporter);
Geraldine Nicholson (Chair, No Third Runway Action Group) on 23 February 2010

SSE members joined their counterparts from the Heathrow campaign yesterday at the High Court in London to wish them well at the start of their judicial review of the Heathrow third runway consultation. The legal action has been mounted by a coalition of local authorities and environmental organisations including Greenpeace, CPRE and WWF as well as local campaign groups.

Said Carol Barbone, SSE Campaign Director: "We have worked closely with the Heathrow groups HACAN ClearSkies and the No Third Runway Action Group since the government first started its consultation on airport expansion back in 2002. This has proved invaluable in reinforcing our respective campaigns against the government's airport expansion plans for the south east. Our presence at the High Court sends a clear signal that we will continue to maintain a united front until we have succeeded in overturning the runway threat which faces both communities."

The legal challenge is being heard before the Rt Hon Lord Justice Carnwath CVO who revealed during the first day's proceedings that he had been born in the 1940s just three miles from Stansted and for the whole of his life had seen repeated consultation and inquiries into where to site runways.