Heathrow Expansion

[Beachcomber]

Celebs have bought up a plot of land needed for the expansion in the hope that they can stop the building of a third runway. Will it work ?
LINK

[Victor Meldrew]

It's a great idea, and well worth a try.

Will it work? Not a hope. Planning laws were changed last year which take into account situations like this where compulsory purchase of land is concerned. To buy up land simply to stop a compulsory purchase order won't work any more under the new laws.

I do wish them luck in delaying the inevitable for as long as possible though.

[Beachcomber]

The point is, they are hoping to divide it up into small portions and sell each plot to different people all over the world.
This would make it virtually impossible to trace each individual owner.

They did this in Scotland a few years ago. There's no such thing as a National Park there so someone parcelled up huge tracts of the highlands into 1ft square plots and sold them off at £10 each. The money raised is to be used to manage the land as a wilderness for future generation. I bought one as a birthday present for my Father.

He now thinks he's a Laird

[VikingHumpingWitch]

Ahhh, now Policecar's thread makes sense.

While there are plenty of arguments to be made on this matter, a bunch of celebs happy to jet across the world whenever it suits them are certainly not the ones to be dictating to the rest of us how our travel plans are going to pan out in the future.

[justmyopinion]

Quite agree VHW

[Victor Meldrew]

Beachcomber, I don't think that dividing the land up into hundreds or thousands of small sections, each owned by someone different, will cause much of a problem for the developers.

I haven't read all of the new planning laws concerning compulsory purchase, but I believe there are clauses addressing exactly this type of situation. If the developers can prove that the land was bought (and possibly sold on) purely for the purposes of stopping a development (and the way this is being done would not be difficult to prove) it could actually make the compulsory purchase process easier. As I understand it, the land could be valued, purchased and it would be up to each 'landowner' to claim the proceeds for their small portion of land from a fund set aside for the purpose.

[Beachcomber]

Oh Bugger !

[VikingHumpingWitch]

I am also getting heartily fed up of campaigners targeting air travel. Most people don't fly very often, and drive daily. A person who drives regularly needs to shut the fcuk up about someone going on holiday once or twice a year. No ifs buts, just shut up, and stay that way.

[flatandy]

Provided they keep the same number of flights in and out, rather than increasing the number, having Terminal 5 and a third runway will seriously help Heathrow. T5 already makes it much much less chaotic when you arrive. We still spend ages circling round over Watford before landing, though, so clearly there's not enough capacity for the number of flights that already exist.

And I agree completely with VHW about whiny celebs who fly everywhere, and people who drive every day.

[Victor Meldrew]

We still spend ages circling round over Watford before landing, though

Do you really? In that case, my sympathies go to the many first time visitors to this Country. Spending several minutes staring at an aerial view of Watford's ring road system is hardly the best way of saying "welcome to England".

[Libby]

It would be far more scenic to be delayed and circling over Dubai! lol!

[Victor Meldrew]

I'd also prefer to see an aerial view of Dubai to Watford, Libby. That would be one hell of a circling manoeuvre for a Heathrow landing though.

[Libby]

It certainly would lol!