Residents win court hearing over missiles on their rooftop

Council tenants who have launched legal proceedings over plans to station surface-to-air missiles on the roof of their block of flats during the Olympics are to have their day in court.

Solicitors representing the residents' association at the Fred Wigg Tower in Leytonstone, east London, said yesterday that the MoD had been ordered to file a defence by next Tuesday and an expedited hearing would be held on 9 July.

The association, Harrow Community Support, is seeking an injunction preventing the ground-based air defence system being deployed above the heads of families living in the block's 117 flats.

Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials are considering deploying the weapons across six sites in the capital as a security measure for the Games. The move is yet to be confirmed.

Tenants want the MoD prohibited from using the block until there has been a proper consultation process and an equality impact assessment carried out which takes into account the needs of disabled residents.

Alternative locations being considered are the Lexington Building in Tower Hamlets; Blackheath Common and Oxleas Wood in south London; the William Girling Reservoir in Enfield; and Barn Hill in Epping Forest.