Handing in the Airplot deed at No 10 this morning
Fantastic news - climate-wrecking plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport have been axed.
The Cameron/Clegg government confirmed yesterday evening that it will not only scrap the third runway at Heathrow, but also refuse additional runways at Gatwick and Stansted. So all our Airplot campaigning has finally won out - and a huge thank you is due to all you Airplotters, and everyone who's written to their MP or taken part in one of the many protests demanding that the plan be shelved.
Right from the start, we argued that building a third runway at a time when we are battling to reduce our carbon emissions made no sense. We worked with a huge coalition to oppose it, including residents' groups Hacan and NoTRAG, local councils, Climate Camp, WWF and RSPB - and it's paid off.
This morning Airplot campaigners headed to Downing Street to present the new prime minister with a legal Deed of Trust containing the names of over 90,000 Airplotters who are joint beneficial owners the plot of land at the centre of the proposed runway development, and thank David Cameron and Nick Clegg for agreeing to officially scrap Heathrow expansion.
We planned to use the Airplot to create a significant legal headache for any government which tried to build the runway, and were preparing to defend the land if the runway went ahead, but now it seems that it won't be needed. Particularly since new deputy PM Nick Clegg is one of the beneficial owners of the one acre plot, and David Cameron agreed to have a tree planted on the land in his name.
This is a huge victory in the fight for genuine action against catastrophic climate change - a recognition of the impact aviation is having on our climate.
It's also wonderful news for local residents. There will be parties tonight in Sipson, which was due to be demolished under the plans. Sipson resident Linda McCutcheon (on the right in the photo above), who came with us to hand in the Airplot deed, was moved to tears to know that her home and village has been saved.
But this is not the end of our campaign. Neither the Tories nor the Lib Dems have yet ruled out expansion at other airports around the country - so our campaign will keep going until the new government recognizes that all airport expansion has to stop.
