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Airport Wins High Court Case

25th May 2004

Mrs Justice Gloster today announced her judgement following a two day High Court hearing and ordered that the injunction proceedings brought by Warwick District Council regarding the Airport's use of its Interim Passenger Facilities be struck out. Mrs Justice Gloster ruled that there would be no reasonable prospect of a court granting an injunction and further ruled that the action taken by Warwick District Council amounted to an abuse of legal proceedings.

The case had been endorsed by the Council's Head of Planning, Mr John Archer, and both Interim and Final Injunctions had been sought to prevent the Airport using temporary facilities it had constructed under its own planning law powers.

Prior to the High Court hearing the Council had dropped its claim for an Interim Injunction against the Airport, indicating that it did not have enough time to consider the Airport's evidence.

Following a two day hearing last week (13 and 14 May) the High Court judge found in favour of Coventry Airport, and returned with a verdict today that threw out the Council's request for a Final Injunction.

Speaking after the High Court Judgment, Coventry Airport's Managing Director, Bill Savage said, "We are delighted that the High Court has thrown out Mr Archer's claims. We have stated all along that we wish to work with the Local Planning Authority, but Mr Archer has sought to take action that frustrated every attempt we tried to make. His action has undoubtedly cost the tax payers of Warwick District Council hundreds of thousands of pounds and I feel sorry for those tax payers that will inevitably face higher bills."

"This case brought by Mr Archer has made for a very costly and difficult time for the Airport Company with business viability, future investment and hundreds of jobs at stake. It has taken time and attention away from working on the real issues of dealing with the concerns of local residents and stakeholders"

"The Airport now wishes to try again to work with the Local Planning Authority to move the car parking away from the village of Baginton to sites by the terminal facilities, however in our initial discussions with Mr Archer it would appear that he is not prepared to cooperate in achieving this move. We are extremely frustrated by the fact that whilst we would like to take the extra traffic away from Baginton village, it looks like Mr Archer is not going to allow this to happen."

"I am very pleased that we can now focus on proving our case for future expansion of the Airport before a professional and independent planning inspector as soon as possible. Meanwhile Airport customers, staff and of course passengers can plan with confidence on the future of the Airport."

Media Enquiries Contact: Sue Lindsay +44 (0) 2476 308681

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