Judicial review of decision to allow Southampton Airport runway extension

During the two-day High Court hearing at London’s Royal Courts of Justice, it will be argued by lawyers acting for residents’ group GOESA Ltd that Eastleigh Borough Council acted unlawfully when it granted permission for the 164-metre development to the north of the existing runway in June 2021, while residents were waiting for the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to decide whether to hold a public inquiry on the plan.

• Breached residents’ legitimate expectation that it would not grant planning permission until the Communities Secretary had had time to rule on their request for a public inquiry. The statement on the council website was clear and unambiguous.
• Breached the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 by failing to assess the cumulative effects of potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that would be caused by the runway extension. The Environmental Statement produced by Southampton International Airport only described the GHG emissions from this proposed development and not those from other linked airport expansions.
• Unlawfully applied the “tilted balance” in favour of permission when the most important policies for determining the application were out of date contrary to the National Policy and Planning Framework. The council concluded that, because one part of policy was out of date, that allowed it to apply the “titled balance”.
• The council was wrongly influenced by a publicity campaign asserting that the airport would have to close if permission were not granted. It disregarded potential economic harms of the extension and factored into its decision projected benefits without seeing the proper evidence for them.