A plot of land on the site of the proposed third Heathrow runway has been bought by environmental campaigners in an attempt to halt the expansion of Britain's biggest airport.
A plot of land on the site of the proposed third Heathrow runway has been bought by environmental campaigners in an attempt to halt the expansion of Britain's biggest airport.
The move by a coalition led by Greenpeace is being backed by the actress Emma Thompson, comedian Alistair McGowan and Conservative Party green adviser Zac Goldsmith, who bought the acre of land near the village of Sipson, north of Heathrow's perimeter, last week for an undisclosed fee.
Local Labour MP John McDonnell, Conservative front-bench spokeswoman Justine Greening and LibDem MP Susan Kramer have also signed up to the land deal.
Described as Operation Baldrick by McGowan, because it is such "a cunning plan", the land will be subdivided into thousands of individual parcels and sold on the international market to frustrate a compulsory purchase order by the government on behalf of BAA, the owners of Heathrow.
Greenpeace claimed yesterday that 1000 people an hour were contacting them to buy up tiny parcels of the land and become owners who would have to be contacted and served with compulsory purchase orders if the expansion goes ahead. Individual owners would be able to launch their own legal challenges to each aspect of the expansion plan.
Legal opinion is divided on whether the sub-division of the land would significantly delay the expansion but Greenpeace is confident of its legal advice and there are other precedents not far from the London airport. Chelsea football club's Stamford Bridge pitch was divided and sold in tiny segments to the Chelsea Pitch Owners in the 1990s to prevent the land being used for anything other than football.
The Greenpeace ploy was revealed as a last-ditch attempt by Cabinet ministers to obtain tougher environmental safeguards, while threatening to delay the go-ahead of the third runway indefinitely. Environment Secretary Hilary Benn and Climate Change Minister Ed Miliband are understood to have argued in cabinet yesterday for tougher "green" safeguards for the new runway and were due to hold talks with Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon, who will make the final decision.
The government has promised an announcement on the runway this month, possibly as early as Thursday. Yesterday the Prime Minister's official spokesman said that providing air quality, infrastructure, and access conditions are met, that the government approves of the expansion plan "in principle".
