Coup of the year

It’s only the 14th of January but the O’Conall Street ‘Coup of the Year’ award has already gone to Greenpeace for its campaign to halt expansion of Heathrow Airport.

Greenpeace has assembled a group, which includes Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson and prominent comedian Alistair McGowan, to purchase a plot of land on ground earmarked for a proposed third runway at Europe’s busiest airport.

Greenpeace director John Sauven said the new owners will never sell the property, roughly an acre, to the government or the airport operator.

“The legal owners of the site will block the runway at every stage through the planning process and in the courts,” he said. “They will never sell the land to Spanish-owned airport operator BAA, and if it comes to it many thousands of people will be prepared to peacefully defend their field in person, standing in front of bulldozers and blocking construction.”

According to the Associated Press, the land was purchased for less than £25,000 in the village of Sipson, where hundreds of family houses will be destroyed if the runway project goes forward.

Emma Thompson, said she had joined the group that purchased the land because it was “hypocritical” for the government to promise to reduce greenhouse gases while greatly increasing air traffic capacity.

“I don’t understand how any government remotely serious about committing to reversing climate change can even consider these ridiculous plans,” she said, vowing that the new owners would move to the property and defend it if necessary.

Now Greenpeace has announced that over 5000 people have signed up to become co-owners of this site in what the Guardian is describing as one of the great British property rushes.

This will force the Government into protracted negotiations with several thousand owners should it wish to acquire the land through a compulsory purchase system.