The Supreme Court will tomorrow rule on whether Heathrow Airport’s proposed expansion plans are illegal.

The ruling will be made at 9:45 tomorrow virtually, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The court listened to cases made in October, with Heathrow Airport itself appealing the original ruling to block the plans,

In February the Court of Appeal sided with environmental pressure groups including Friends of the Earth who argued that Heathrow’s plans for a third runway breached the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The Supreme Court listened to cases made in October, with Heathrow Airport itself appealing the original ruling to block the plans, and Friends of the Earth and environmental law charity Plan B Earth defending the ruling.

Paul McGuinness, Chair of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said: “Our large membership would clearly prefer the Supreme Court to uphold the earlier judgment, to kibosh Heathrow’s self-interested plans once and for all.

“But whatever it declares, Heathrow expansion cannot proceed. Because, putting aside their investors' lack of appetite to find new money, even to maintain the airport as a going concern through the pandemic, expanding Heathrow no longer ticks any of the boxes.

“Since the Airports Commission recommended Heathrow expansion, five years ago, the world has changed and the assessments on noise, air quality and carbon have been exposed as inadequate.

“Moreover, as the Government’s climate advisers have made clear just this month, expanding Heathrow in the already advantaged South East of England will exact a heavy price in other regions around the country. And it is no longer politically acceptable to assault the regions in this manner.”

Although the original plans were made by the Government’s Airports National Policy Statement, the airport itself is the one challenging the ruling, as the Government did not.

As such, even if the decision is overturned, expansion plans will have to start again in Parliament and it’s unlikely the Government have the political will to restart the process.

Moreover, the coronavirus has taken its toll on the airport, with traffic down over 80% in October, as Paris’ Charles De Gaulle overtook it as the busiest airport in Europe.

With a potential £1bn loss to the airport’s economy and an estimated 2,000 retail jobs that could be lost to a new ‘tourist tax’ imposed by the Government, the airport has been hit hard by the virus.

Parmjit Dhanda, Executive Director of Back Heathrow said: “The Supreme Court judgement comes at a crunch time for the UK’s struggling economy. The go-ahead for a new runway will give hope for new jobs and a post-Covid recovery. Else we face the loss of much-needed trading opportunities, at a time of growing Brexit uncertainty.

“The CBI, the TUC and over 100,000 local residents have been campaigning for a new runway for many years, with the backing of a 296-vote majority in Parliament. It’s time to get on and build it, and meet our climate reduction targets too.”

Back Heathrow also argued the expansion would bring 180,000 new jobs and 10,000 apprenticeships, without breaching the Paris Agreement.

More details on the case can be found here and you can watch the judgement here.