The ruling on Heathrow’s third runway means UK business has changed forever

The eco-warriors are cock-a-hoop. This is a landmark, the most significant victory they’ve enjoyed for years, far more important than any amount of large-scale protest and disruption. Chris Blackhurst explains why

Campaigners celebrate at the Royal Courts of Justice (PA)

The reverberations of the appeal court ruling over Heathrow’s expansion are profound. Too right, say climate change activists who campaigned for the plans for the airport’s new runway to be scrapped. London’s skies will not be so crowded, air and noise pollution will not be so bad. Absolutely, say those who pushed for a larger Heathrow, maintaining that Britain’s economy will suffer, that the additional financial benefits the boost in passengers would bring will be lost. Both arguments are true. Both have a ripple effect that will go far and wide.

There is, though, a third impact, which has much deeper repercussions. The judges intervened and enforced climate change laws, finding the government, when it applied the airports’ policy, had not paid due heed to them. Suddenly, all those millions spent promoting the case for the third runway, the carefully orchestrated lobbying and advertising campaigns, were wasted.

There’s a new audience that demands to be taken into account – one that is not so easily influenced by political schmoozing, and smart posters and billboards. It’s possible to claim, as others are doing, that the courts must be brought to heel, that you can’t have a system where parliament votes to grow an airport, as it did, resoundingly, only to have an unelected judiciary saying otherwise.