Runway decision could be shelved

1:05pm Tuesday 13th January 2009

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A decision on a third runway for Heathrow could be put off again amid bitter Labour infighting.

The Cabinet is due to debate the issue, with several members known to harbour serious concerns about the £9 billion airport expansion.

The Government had been widely expected to give the project the green light this week, despite more than 40 backbenchers joining Opposition parties and green campaigners in demanding it be scrapped.

But on Monday night the Prime Minister raised the prospect of a further delay when he agreed to meet rebel MPs for more talks.

Asked whether an announcement was imminent, the premier's spokesman also pointedly insisted that the Government had only promised a decision "in January". The hints at a delay came amid furious exchanges between supporters and opponents of the expansion.

Greenpeace revealed that it had bought a section of land on the proposed site, and was planning to divide it into tiny pieces in a bid to gridlock the planning process with hundreds of legal challenges.

Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson and impressionist Alistair McGowan are among those who announced they had bought the piece of land, the size of a football pitch, from a local landowner for an undisclosed fee.

London Mayor Boris Johnson also insisted he would go to court over any decision to authorise the runway. Mr Johnson, who has called for the construction of a new airport in the Thames Estuary instead, said the "overwhelming majority" of people were against the move on environmental and economic grounds.

But backers, including the Unite and GMB unions, claimed the scheme could create 65,000 jobs.

Hundreds of environmental protesters gathered at Heathrow on Monday night - for a picnic. Campaigners dressed in Edwardian clothes sat down in Terminal 1 to enjoy cakes and sandwiches as part of a peaceful demonstration against expansion at the west London airport.