Government ‘not ripping up’ green protections, minister says, amid projects push

The Government is not “ripping up” climate change commitments, a minister has said, as Rachel Reeves is expected to endorse a third Heathrow runway and a bid to curb challenges to major projects is launched.

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook defended the Chancellor’s claim at Davos that economic growth “trumps other things”, as speculation about the major airport rises.

Ms Reeves is expected to use a speech next week to support the proposed third runway at the west London airport and endorse expansion at Gatwick and Luton airports.

Amid the push for growth, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has meanwhile vowed to end a “challenge culture” that saw major projects such as nuclear power plants, wind farms and roads delayed by unarguable bids for judicial review.

Under plans announced on Thursday, people who seek to challenge major projects through the courts will have fewer chances to do so.

Mr Pennycook said the Chancellor was “absolutely right to say” growth was the Government’s number one priority.

He also told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I just think this is important to say, the Chancellor did not say we are ripping up the obligation for individual projects to be compatible with our legally binding climate change commitments.

“She did not say that projects no longer need to meet environmental standards around air quality and noise pollution.”

Plans to push through a third runway at Heathrow will likely meet fierce opposition from within the Labour ranks, as senior figures including London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband have previously spoken out against it.

Mr Pennycook would not be drawn into saying whether his own past objections to a third runway made him one of the so-called “nimbys” (not in my backyard) the Government is seeking to challenge.

“I won’t speculate on hypotheticals, because it is for Heathrow to submit an application, and it hasn’t done so,” he told LBC.

Major infrastructure projects which have faced delay due to judicial review, sometimes for years, include the Sizewell C nuclear power plant, the A47 national highway project, and windfarms off the East Anglia coast.

Opponents currently have three opportunities to secure permission for a judicial review against a major infrastructure project – firstly by writing to the High Court, then in an oral hearing and finally by asking the Court of Appeal.

But under plans announced by the Prime Minister on Thursday, the written stage will be scrapped and any cases deemed “totally without merit” will be unable to ask the Court of Appeal to reconsider.