Newcastle International Airport is among three airports to have been granted High Court injunctions against fossil fuel and environmental activists protesting at their sites.
On Thursday, the North East airport, along with Leeds Bradford Airport and London Luton Airport, was given an injunction banning protesters from trespassing or causing a nuisance at its location. The injunctions will last for five years and are set to be reviewed every 12 months, the PA news agency reports.
Timothy Morshead KC, representing the airports, said activists from organisations such as Just Stop Oil (JSO) and Extinction Rebellion (ER) posed a serious threat to passengers and there was a "real and imminent risk of disruption". He told the court in London that "one cancelled plane can produce a cascade effect", noting that if a flight is late it impacts on the staff that can operate it.
The court heard that another issue was the threat of protesters being able to walk out onto the runway due to the smaller facilities at the three airports. Unlike airports such as Heathrow, passengers at the Newcastle, Leeds and Luton airports use the runway to board a flight, adding to the risk a protest could occur near a plane.
This makes these airports "vulnerable spaces" to protest, Mr Morshead told the court, due to the "very specific and deliberate threat" protesters offered. The court was told that JSO had threatened disruption.
Granting the injunctions, Mr Justice Ritchie said JSO and ER's "threats had a history of being seen through". He described a recent incident at Stansted Airport where JSO activists caused damage worth £52,000 to repair to private planes sprayed with orange paint.
He also warned that "the threat of terrorism is facilitated by the disruption and chaos", adding: "JSO and ER have made good on their threats and have come at an enormous cost to the taxpayer and private financial expense, and disruption at oil terminals, roads, sports events and their threats potentially at airports."
Following the ruling, a spokesperson for Newcastle Airport said: "We strongly support the efforts being made to decarbonise the aviation industry. We have taken significant steps towards our own 2035 Net Zero target and have successfully reduced the Airport's carbon footprint by 31% since 2019 - exceeding our target by 6%.
"While we fully understand the issue of climate change and recognise that the right to protest is a fundamental and important human right, we cannot condone any activity that could impact our passengers - including hard-working families who are going on a well-deserved summer break.
"We are not seeking to restrain peaceful and lawful protests, only activity which goes beyond this. This injunction gives us greater ability to reduce the risk of disruption and protects everyone's safety."
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