Heathrow airport is braced for protests and disruption on Saturday as climate campaigners join locals in a march on the airport, with one group planning direct action that could delay or cancel flights.



The airport said it was monitoring the situation closely. Operations at Heathrow were halted last July when a group of 13 protesters chained themselves together on a runway, and the subsequent decision to approve a third runway has swelled the ranks of activists. More than 100 people are believed to have pledged to take direct action this weekend.

Demonstrations against the airport’s expansion plans, approved by the government last month, will start with a rally in Richmond, south-west London, on Saturday morning addressed by Zac Goldsmith, who resigned as the local Conservative MP in protest. Residents of surrounding villages and campaigners are expected to later join a peaceful march on the airport’s perimeter.

But the airport will be more concerned by the unspecified action, for which protesters expect to be arrested. Instead of reaching the runway, a possible tactic could be to block the tunnels and approach roads to Heathrow, stopping airline and airport staff as well as passengers from reaching the airport.

A spokeswoman for the airport said: “Heathrow supports the right to peaceful protest within the law, but the safety and security of our passengers, aircraft and colleagues together with the smooth running of the operation is paramount.”

The protest has been called by the campaign group RisingUp!, which said it would coordinate blockades in protest at the proposed development of the third runway, which it called “a red line for the climate”.

The campaigners say expansion at Heathrow will cause the UK to break its own national laws to reduce emissions and undermine international climate commitments.

One of the organisers of the accompanying protest is Neil Keveren, 55, a resident of the village of Harmondsworth, which will be largely bulldozed for the third runway. Keveren, who has an injuction preventing him joining further direct action after he blocked a tunnel leading to the airport, said: “The only reason people take direct action is to create a platform to speak.

“We had prime ministers elected on no-ifs-no-buts promises, and now even Theresa May, with the cabinet she chose, it’s not democracy is it? People have an expectation that their politicians will do what they have promised historically.”

Keveren, who was born in the adjoining village of Sipson, said longstanding residents would not voluntarily leave their houses if construction was ever to go ahead, adding: “I don’t think that May or the electorate have any stomach to see elderly people forcibly removed from their homes of a lifetime.”



Alex Sharpe, 27, a fellow campaigner who has been living in Sipson as part of the long-term Transition Heathrow protest project, said: “The government’s decision to go ahead is absolutely disastrous and flies in the face of all science on climate change. It’s a gross injustice both locally and globally, whether it’s the hundreds of homes locally or the 300,000 people a year dying through the effects of climate change.”

The government has approved in principle Heathrow’s proposed £17.6bn third runway, although there will be further consultation and a parliamentary vote on a national policy statement on aviation before the airport can seek planning permission. The extended airport would see an extra 240,000 flights a year.

Meanwhile, four local councils and Greenpeace have taken the first step in their legal challenge to the decision. Hillingdon, Richmond, Wandsworth, and Windsor and Maidenhead councils, backed by the environmental group, have written to the transport secretary giving notice of judicial review proceedings. Earlier this week the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, indicated he was backing the move and could join in legal action to stop the third runway.