Britain's top court gives go-ahead to Heathrow expansion

LONDON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Britain's top court gave the
go-ahead to the expansion of Heathrow Airport on Wednesday,
overturning a previous court decision which had blocked the 14
billion pound ($18.90 billion) plan on environmental grounds.

The Supreme Court ruled in Heathrow's favour, allowing the
UK's biggest airport to proceed with a plan to build a third
runway. Heathrow is keen to proceed despite the plunge in air
traffic during the pandemic.

In February, a court had declared the expansion unlawful on
environmental grounds, with the judge saying that a failure to
take into account the UK government's commitments on climate
change was "legally fatal" to the plans.

($1 = 0.7408 pounds)
(Reporting by Michael Holden and Kate Holton, writing by Sarah
Young, editing by Estelle Shirbon)