Court of Appeal refuses permission to appeal in legal challenge over Gatwick second runway

In Barclay and another -v- Secretary of State for Transport [2026] EWHC 1556 (Admin), Lord Justice Holgate and Lord Justice Dove concluded that each of the grounds of appeal raised by the appellants were “unarguable”.

Following the hearing, the Government has said the airport’s second runway can now be brought into “full use”.

In a judgment handed down in June, Mr Justice Mould concluded that the Secretary of State for Transport (SST) did not carry out a legally flawed noise impact assessment in her decision to grant development consent, nor did the SST misinterpret or fail to apply national policy for the management and mitigation of aircraft noise.

The claimants were Peter Barclay, a local resident and Chair of the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC), and Communities Against Gatwick Noise Emissions (CAGNE).

CAGNE sought permission to appeal the decision of Mr Justice Mould on the following four grounds:

• The Secretary of State had taken an irrational approach to the assessment of the significance of the impact of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs);
• The Secretary of State erred in law in failing to require Gatwick Airport Limited to undertake a quantitative assessment of non-CO2 GHG emissions as part of the environmental statement to support the development;
• The Secretary of State failed to take into account material risks to the delivery of the Jet Zero Strategy, and in particular the risks to the achievement of the “high ambition” scenario in that policy relied upon by Gatwick Airport Limited;
• The planning requirements imposed by the government do not lawfully ensure that adequate wastewater treatment infrastructure will be operational before expansion takes place and therefore fail to address the environmental risks they were intended to prevent.

The appeal brought by Mr Barclay was based on two grounds. The first ground was that the judge had erred in concluding that the Secretary of State had correctly interpreted the Airports National Policy Statement in making her decision.

His second ground of appeal was that the judge had been wrong to reject the contention that the Secretary of State’s decision was irrational in relation to the assessment of national economic benefits, in particular when dealing with the contribution of business passengers to the calculation of economic benefits in the National Economic Impact Assessment provided by Gatwick Airport Limited.

The Court of Appeal concluded that each of the grounds of appeal brought by both appellants were “unarguable”.

Lord Justice Holgate and Lord Justice Dove said: “Neither appeal has a real prospect of success. We also consider that there are no other compelling reasons for either appeal to be heard. Accordingly, each of the applications for permission to appeal is dismissed.”

Responding to the judgment, Heidi Alexander, Transport Secretary, said: “This is a major milestone for Gatwick and for local communities, with expansion unlocking investment and creating thousands of new jobs.

“Around 13 million more passengers and 100,000 more flights will give holidaymakers greater choice and strengthen global links to help make the UK one of the most attractive places in the world to invest.

“We’ll back expansion that supports growth and our climate goals. To drive forward sustainable change, we’re also investing over £219 million for green fuel production to cut emissions from flying and secure the future of aviation.”

Lottie Winson