JOSEPH O'REILLY

I have to confess that I’ve always harboured ambitions to own a little piece of land in the country. Well thanks to Greenpeace I now do, albeit along with almost 37,000 others!

The creative people at Greenpeace have purchased a plot of land smack bang in the middle of the area where the government intends to build a new runway at Heathrow.

You see the government plans to go ahead with airport expansion across the country even though this means we'll have no hope of meeting our climate emission targets. At full capacity, Heathrow would become the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in the whole country.

I need to say right here and now that I do my fair share of flying, largely long distance for work. But I also accept that I, like everyone else have to fly less. However in order to do so we need the government to get serious about limiting the expansion of aviation and to provide us with real alternatives, especially for shorter distance travel.

Greenpeace bought the plot at Heathrow to make sure that the contribution of aviation to climate isn’t totally ignored.

Using the plot as a focus for organising they intend to challenge the Government’s decision to build a third runway every step of the way - by a building a strong community of supporters including the thousands of beneficial owners of the plot, creating a legal block against any planning applications or attempts to buy the land, and if necessary physically blocking construction - standing with the people of Sipson, whose 700 homes would be flattened to build the runway, to stop the bulldozers.

You can sign up to be a beneficial owner and help stop airport expansion in general and the building of a third runway at Heathrow in particular here.