Airport campaigners headed to Downing Street today to present the new Prime Minister with a legal Deed of Trust containing the names of over 90,000 people who jointly own a plot of land at the centre of the proposed Heathrow runway development, and to thank David Cameron and Nick Clegg for agreeing to officially scrap the planned expansion.
The ‘Airplot' campaign to buy the land and divide up ownership was launched by Emma Thompson and Alistair McGowan last year as a way to thwart airport operator BAA's plans to tarmac over the village of Sipson a mile to the north of Heathrow.
The deeds have now closed, and with 91,000 people signed up as beneficial owners of the land any government which had tried to build the runway would have faced a significant legal headache. Among the owners of the one acre plot are Deputy PM Nick Clegg, dozens of MPs, celebrities, local residents and people from around the world concerned about climate change. David Cameron agreed to have a tree planted on the land in his name.
One of the owners of the land is Good Life actor Richard Briers. He said:
"What great news it was when they said they wouldn't be building their silly runway. Lots of us have been very worried about it, not just because we live in west London but because of the harm it would have done to the environment. There are so many people named on our deed, it's terribly heavy, but when Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg look through it they'll see there are more than ninety thousand people who own our lovely little plot of land in the middle of the new runway site. I'm sure they'll all be very pleased to hear the runway is being officially scrapped."
Greenpeace also revealed today the winner of a high-profile architectural competition to design a fort to be constructed on the plot of land to defend it from the bulldozers if necessary. A panel of judges including Turner prize winner Rachel Whiteread sifted through entries from 67 architects and architectural practices before choosing a design for an intricate tunnel network submerged beneath a purpose-built hill.
Greenpeace had committed to building the fortress and occupying it to peacefully defend the iconic plot if BAA continued to push for the runway. The winning design - by London architects Alastair Parvin and Lukas Barry - is a defendable structure that would be collectively created by the thousands of individuals who opposed the runway plans, each person contributing a sack of earth to build up the fortress. Once built, Greenpeace were planning to keep the design of the tunnel network within the structure a carefully guarded secret.
Other entries included a "Martello hive" - an adventure playground which doubles as an underground complex for activists - and a rubber house made from the thousands of aircraft tyres that are discarded at Heathrow each year.
Pictures of the winning design and other entries can be viewed here: www.greenpeace.org.uk/airplot_winners. (High res versions available from contact number below.)
Commenting on the winning design for a fortress to be built on the land, competition judge Rachel Whiteread OBE said:
"Essentially this is a defensive and very proactive design, but it's also a quietly poetic one too. It's a simple hill - almost like a burial mound which is something we've seen traditionally across England and worldwide. It will be built using these earth bags - which people can even bring from their gardens - and this really excited us, the fact that people will be investing in the structure, and will be involved in the making of it. It's very exciting and is a design which works on so many levels."
The winning architects said: "What really grabbed us about this project was that it was an opportunity to explore a fundamentally different way of making things. Where traditional architecture has always been built by the few to impress upon the many, this would be the opposite: a structure built by the many to impress upon the few. We think it will be the world's first truly 'crowd-funded' structure."
An exhibition of the entries to the competition to design the fortress will be held at the Oxo Bargehouse gallery on London's Southbank from Wednesday 2nd June to Sunday 6th June. Members of the public are invited to view the stunning entries and decide for themselves if the judges got it right.
ENDS
For more call Greenpeace on 020 7865 8255 / 07801 212967
Notes:
- The campaign against a third runway at Heathrow airport is a frontline in the battle against climate change. A third runway would, if it was used to capacity, double the number of passengers passing through the airport and lead to 202,000 extra planes flying over London every year. Not only does that mean that millions of Londoners' lives would be further blighted by noise and air pollution but also that Heathrow airport would be the biggest single source of carbon dioxide in the UK, bigger than Drax power station. At full capacity, the airport would emit 23.6 million tonnes of CO2 every year - that's equivalent to the emissions of 54 of the least polluting countries combined.
- Mike Seifert, the solicitor Greenpeace engaged to create as many legal owners of the land as possible. said: "It was a fascinating challenge to structure a land purchase so thousands of people can have a stake, and a voice, in a field. In the end we settled on the idea of people becoming beneficial owners of the land. Having this number of people owning a piece of land collectively is highly unusual and we think may be unprecedented in law."
- Alastair Parvin and Lukas Barry are architecture graduates and designers working in London. More of their work and writing can be found published at www.bemakeshift.co.uk
- The winning entries will be shown 2-6 June at the Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, South Bank, London SE1 9PH, 11am - 6pm daily, admission free. For more information: www.greenpeace.org.uk/oxo
