Some time ago, during the summer, green peace activists in London made their way onto the tarmac and literally got on top of an aircraft – where they posted banners protesting the pollution caused by air travel; many thought that was too obsessive. Try this on: campaigners for Greenpeace purchased a nice slab of land that might halt the Heathrow’s expansion plans (a new runway). Both sides, the Greenpeace members and the BAA, are preparing themselves for a legal battle. The government was expected to approve Heathrow’s new expansion plans, which included another terminal, sometime this week.
The field that they have acquired is about the size of a football field. To make things more complicated for the BAA, the activists plan on splitting the field up into 1000 plots, each having its own owner; forcing the BAA to negotiate with every single owner of land plots. Notably, Emma Thompson (a pretty well-known British actress) and other British celebrities were present to witness the signing of the deed. The price of the land? £20,000, or about $29,000. A majority of the piece of land was funded by a private donor.
It’s an interesting approach / idea for Greenpeace activists. I think we’ll see the BAA initially try to dispute the land, but overall I think it just might work. We’ll have to keep an eye on this as time goes on.
Image: Stock.xchng (It is not a picture of the field in the story).
