airplot

Gerald Kaufman MP (far right) joins Manchester supporters in planting an apple tree to oppose the third runway

From small acorns do mighty oak trees grow. Okay, we've been planting apple trees instead of oaks, but the sentiment certainly rings true for the Airplot tree planting ceremonies being held up and down the country.

One of third runway architects Grimshaw's earlier works (photo by Mat Strange)

Even though it hasn't been officially announced, it's been widely reported that architectural firm Grimshaw has won the bid to design the third runway at Heathrow. How much design a strip of tarmac needs I don't know, but presumably there's more to it than my ignorant assumptions suggest.

Grimshaw are, of course, the firm behind such eco-hits as the Eden Project and the firm's chairman Sir Nicholas Grimshaw has something of a reputation for sustainable and environmentally considerate approaches to architecture.

Alison Steadman, Carol Ann Duffy and Richard Briers muck in on the Airplot

Down on the parcel of land Greenpeace has bought on the site of the proposed third Heathrow runway, a new element is being added to the Airplot. Typically for this time of year, it's a bit chilly and a bit muddy, but that makes it perfect for what we've got planned today, which is planting an apple orchard.

With the help of people like actress Alison Steadman, poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy and former Heathrow writer-in-residence Alain de Botton, we're planting yet more roots into the land we own on behalf of tens of thousands of people around the world, a right spanner in the works for advocates of bigger airports at Heathrow and elsewhere.

While BAA continues to make its case for a third runway at Heathrow, the plot of land we bought on the proposed site is still there, and the allotment Richard Briers helped establish has been providing the local community with all manner of produce. Leeks, potatoes, cabbages, rhubarb and blackberries were harvested, although many of the apples were scrumped and reappeared later as bottles of cider.

We now have 57,000 people who've agreed to be beneficial owners of this land (if you haven't become one, you still can) and it feels like the tide is turning. But we still need your help, now more than ever.

Impersonator extraordinaire, Airplotter and all-round funny man Alistair McGowan is shortly embarking on a nationwide tour of Britain, and he's going to great lengths to make it as green as possible. Alistair is a long-time Greenpeace supporter, and has committed himself to playing a key role in opposing aviation expansion by jointly buying the Airplot with us - the piece of land we acquired slap bang in the middle of the proposed new third runway development site at Heathrow Airport.

For as long as it's been pushing for an expanded Heathrow, BAA has been making exaggerated claims about the environmental impacts of a third runway. Now they, along with aviation lobbying group Future Heathrow, have been hauled up by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for making "misleading" claims about the levels of dirt, noise and air pollution a new runway will generate.