Stansted campaigners launch High Court action against 'biased' runway proposals
http://jattravel.blogspot.com/2013/10/stansted-campaigners-launch-high-court.html
A group campaigning against the proposed expansion of Stansted Airport launched a new High Court action today.
The Stop Stansted Expansion group (SSE) is claiming that the criteria being applied to decide on possible options for new runway sites in England has been "infected by apparent bias".
The SSE wants judges at London’s Royal Courts of Justice to order the Airports Commission to delay the publication of any shortlist of options until the criteria have been re-determined.
The group alleges that there was apparent bias because Geoff Muirhead, a recently-resigned member of the Government-appointed Commission, had a conflict of interest.
Mr Muirhead is a former chief executive of Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which purchased Stansted airport in February.
He stepped down from the Commission three weeks ago after SSE warned Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin they would take legal action if he stayed.
SSE economics adviser Brian Ross said: "With proposals on the table from MAG to make Stansted the world's busiest airport with four runways handling up to 160 million passengers a year, there is far too much at stake to allow the issue of apparent bias to go unchallenged.
"For almost a year, Mr Muirhead was allowed to play a pivotal role on the Commission as its only commissioner with first hand knowledge and experience of the aviation industry."
Mr Ross said it was not enough simply to remove Mr Muirhead from the Commission "at this advanced stage".
The High Court is being asked to order the Commission, chaired by Sir Howard Davies, "to re-visit certain key decisions made by the Commission during the time that Mr Muirhead was involved".
The Department for Transport said Mr Muirhead had "acted properly" at the Commission but stood down to "avoid any perception of a potential conflict of interest".
A DfT spokesman added: "Both the department and Sir Howard agree that there is no evidence whatsoever of bias and the Airports Commission is content that decisions taken to date are robust."
Several options have been put forward for the expansion of the Essex airport, including transforming it into a four-runway international super-airport which could serve between 140m and 160m passengers a year.
A super high speed rail link - cutting the journey time to London to 25 minutes - would also be built to support its growth.
In theory it would then go from Britain's third airport to its largest, dwarfing Heathrow and its 70 million passengers per year.
Another idea is to build a second runway, to the north-west or east of the existing runway.
But the plans have been targeted by many protests including one where more than 50 people burst onto its runway and shut it down for more than five hours.
Celebrities including Jamie Oliver have also joined other demonstrations.
Earlier this month, Britain’s airports tsar said that more runways would have to be built in the South East of England if the UK is to avoid aviation gridlock.
Sir Howard Davies did not give a preferred option but the tone of his speech appeared to raise the odds of a highly controversial extra runway at Heathrow.
Sir Howard said: "Our provisional conclusion is that we will need some net additional runway capacity in the South East of England in the coming decades."
He stressed that to rely "only on runways currently in operation" would mean a poorer service for passengers and could damage the economy.
Sir Howard, who chairs the Government’s Airports Commission, will deliver a short-list of options at the end of the year, followed by a single recommendation to ministers in 2015.
He said the final recommendation could involve expansion at more than one airport – such as Heathrow and Gatwick or Stansted.
Sir Howard said: "It is obvious that options for Heathrow are on the table. I don’t think that makes other options un-lookable at."
But he added: "You also have to look at how the airline market would develop if you didn’t expand Heathrow."
The Stop Stansted Expansion group (SSE) is claiming that the criteria being applied to decide on possible options for new runway sites in England has been "infected by apparent bias".
Controversial: The expansion of Stansted airport
is one of the options being considered in the South East of England to
prevent future aviation gridlock
The SSE wants judges at London’s Royal Courts of Justice to order the Airports Commission to delay the publication of any shortlist of options until the criteria have been re-determined.
The group alleges that there was apparent bias because Geoff Muirhead, a recently-resigned member of the Government-appointed Commission, had a conflict of interest.
Mr Muirhead is a former chief executive of Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which purchased Stansted airport in February.
He stepped down from the Commission three weeks ago after SSE warned Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin they would take legal action if he stayed.
Vision: An artist's impression of what Stansted Airport could look like as a four-runway superhub
SSE economics adviser Brian Ross said: "With proposals on the table from MAG to make Stansted the world's busiest airport with four runways handling up to 160 million passengers a year, there is far too much at stake to allow the issue of apparent bias to go unchallenged.
"For almost a year, Mr Muirhead was allowed to play a pivotal role on the Commission as its only commissioner with first hand knowledge and experience of the aviation industry."
Mr Ross said it was not enough simply to remove Mr Muirhead from the Commission "at this advanced stage".
The High Court is being asked to order the Commission, chaired by Sir Howard Davies, "to re-visit certain key decisions made by the Commission during the time that Mr Muirhead was involved".
The Department for Transport said Mr Muirhead had "acted properly" at the Commission but stood down to "avoid any perception of a potential conflict of interest".
A DfT spokesman added: "Both the department and Sir Howard agree that there is no evidence whatsoever of bias and the Airports Commission is content that decisions taken to date are robust."
Ambitious: If the expansion went ahead, Stansted airport could go from Britain's third airport to its largest
Several options have been put forward for the expansion of the Essex airport, including transforming it into a four-runway international super-airport which could serve between 140m and 160m passengers a year.
A super high speed rail link - cutting the journey time to London to 25 minutes - would also be built to support its growth.
In theory it would then go from Britain's third airport to its largest, dwarfing Heathrow and its 70 million passengers per year.
Another idea is to build a second runway, to the north-west or east of the existing runway.
But the plans have been targeted by many protests including one where more than 50 people burst onto its runway and shut it down for more than five hours.
Celebrities including Jamie Oliver have also joined other demonstrations.
High-profile: Celebrities including chef Jamie Oliver have joined protests against expansion at Stansted (file photo)
Earlier this month, Britain’s airports tsar said that more runways would have to be built in the South East of England if the UK is to avoid aviation gridlock.
Sir Howard Davies did not give a preferred option but the tone of his speech appeared to raise the odds of a highly controversial extra runway at Heathrow.
Sir Howard said: "Our provisional conclusion is that we will need some net additional runway capacity in the South East of England in the coming decades."
He stressed that to rely "only on runways currently in operation" would mean a poorer service for passengers and could damage the economy.
Sir Howard, who chairs the Government’s Airports Commission, will deliver a short-list of options at the end of the year, followed by a single recommendation to ministers in 2015.
He said the final recommendation could involve expansion at more than one airport – such as Heathrow and Gatwick or Stansted.
Sir Howard said: "It is obvious that options for Heathrow are on the table. I don’t think that makes other options un-lookable at."
But he added: "You also have to look at how the airline market would develop if you didn’t expand Heathrow."
