Is Heathrow's Third Runway Finally Taking Off?

In a ruling handed down this week, the Supreme Court has removed a legal block preventing the development of a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

The legal claim brought by environmental campaign groups Friends of the Earth and Plan B sought to challenge the legality of the government's National Policy Statement on airport capacity, which is the framework against which any future application for consent for a third runway will be assessed.

Although the claim raised numerous arguments, the most significant alleged that the government had failed to consider the Paris Agreement on climate change in reaching its decision on the National Policy Statement. The Paris Agreement seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and temperatures arising from global warming; it was ratified by the UK in November 2016 but not transposed into domestic law.