In Protest, Greenpeace Buys Runway Land

"[Greenpeace] says a third runway will create extra pollution and noise and mean the demolition of hundreds of homes, [and] would resist attempts by Heathrow's Spanish-owned operator BAA to compulsorily purchase the site."

"Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson and impressionist Alistair McGowan were among those who said they had bought the land, about the size of a football pitch, from a local landowner.

Thompson said: "I don't understand how any government remotely serious about committing to reversing climate change can even consider these ridiculous plans. It's laughably hypocritical.

'That's why we've bought a plot on the runway. We'll stop this from happening even if we have to move in and plant vegetables.'

Greenpeace said it bought the land from under the nose of BAA with an elaborate ruse. 'We had to have a cover. We pretended we wanted land to set up a donkey sanctuary,' a spokesperson told the Guardian.