AT around 5ft6 and nearly 60, with red cropped hair and black rimmed glasses – Christine Taylor might not seem like someone engaged in a long-running battle with the government. 

But the mother-of-two is part of a coalition taking the fight to the High Court for a judicial review into the government’s decision to back expansion of Heathrow Airport.

“Anybody can do what I’m doing,” she said, insisting she’s just determined to get something done.

Christine lives in Harmondsworth, one of the small communities just north of the airport collectively referred to as the Heathrow Villages.

Having previously worked at the BBC as a clerk, before moving into subediting for Ceefax, she got involved in the community after her sons were born, even running in three local elections between 2006-2014 – twice as an independent, once with UKIP.

“They were the only party that openly opposed the expansion,” she explained. 

In 2006, when running as one of two independents, she narrowly missed out on being elected, coming fourth overall.

Driving around the villages, covered with small green signs reading ‘Stop Heathrow Expansion’, she points out various personal landmarks – the church she was married in dating back to the 12th century, her mother’s house. 

“My history is here,” she said. “My family have been living here for generations and now we have to decide – are we going to start all over again?

“I’m in a situation where I will not live here with a third runway.”

Christine is a member of Stop Heathrow Expansion, a grassroots group comprised of nearby residents. 

The group is just one part of a wider coalition made up of various London councils - Richmond, Wandsworth, Hillingdon, and Windsor & Maidenhead - and Greenpeace.

Christine spends most of her time involved in the campaign, which started as meetings between residents concerned with pollution. 

They don’t have a formal office, as such. Instead, they operate out of various members’ living rooms – distributing leaflets where they can and putting up signs in the community to mobilise further support.

It is hard, she says, to fight big companies and organisations, but they are determined to the cause.

“It is daunting. I have had all sorts of issues with all sorts of people. I know what it is like to be on the receiving end of opposition,” she said. 

Christine admits, at times, it can be very stressful to balance campaigning with her home life and she often loses sleep just trying to keep up with the work. But she isn’t giving up easily.

“Your life doesn’t stop because you are fighting the runway,” she said.

Ealing Times:

The coalition is represented by Harrison Grant Solicitors, who last year acted for Labour members fighting exclusion from voting in the leadership election. 

Harrison Grant filed a formal request for a judicial review to the High Court in December to challenge the government’s decision to proceed with plans to build a third runway.

In October, the government gave its backing to the Airport Commission’s plans to expand Heathrow. 

It was a controversial decision, met with fierce opposition, and even cost Richmond Park MP Zac Goldsmith his job. 

The decision will have to be voted on this year or next but, under the plans, a third runway will be built alongside a new terminal building.

Expansion is expected to bring with it economic growth, and tens of thousands of job opportunities (the commission’s report predicts 59,000-77,000 by 2030).

But if plans do go ahead, much of the Heathrow Villages will be buried under concrete. 

Half of Harmondsworth will be demolished, and nearby Longford incorporated into the airport grounds. 

Those set to lose their homes will be compensated, but many residents feel the area’s character will be lost forever.

“They say it will bring jobs, but there won’t be anyone here to work them,” Christine argued.

She has been down this road before. 

From 2002-2010 she was part of NoTRAG (No Third Runway Action Group), which opposed plans for a third runway. 

Those plans were eventually dropped by the government in 2010. 

“A lot of people thought that with the Conservatives in power, there was not going to be an expansion,” she explained.

But the issue did not disappear completely, and in 2015 the Airport Commission – set up by the government in 2012 - delivered a final report to the Department for Transport outlining the case for expanding Heathrow.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said the ‘preferred scheme will be subject to full and fair public consultation’. Adding, ‘Of course it is also hugely important for those living near the airport’.

Another resident determined not to lose her home and community is Armelle Thomas, whose husband Tommy died in 2015. 

Tommy was an air-gunner in the Second World War and worked at Heathrow for decades afterwards. 

“He was a hero in the war, and he was my hero for 46 years,” Armelle said. 

Under the old proposal, her entire village would have been demolished. 

The new plans mean Tommy’s grave will be saved, but many of the surrounding houses will still disappear. 

Armelle wonders how she will visit Tommy if the neighbourhood is transformed. 

“Our buried loved ones have been spared, but there will be nobody here to put flowers on their graves,” she said.

If the High Court case is successful, and there is a judicial review, the decision to proceed with the runway could be overturned.

Wandsworth Council leader Ravi Govindia says it feels like Groundhog Day for many. 

“Back in 2010, we overturned the Brown Government’s plans for a third runway on environmental grounds,” he said. 

“We’re now heading back to the same court to do it all over again.

“Six years later and we now know that air pollution is far more damaging to health and this expansion proposal is far bigger and more polluting than the last.

“It beggars belief that our government has backed a plan which is so clearly untenable in law and common.”

The plan is subject to a public enquiry, and Christine says the group won’t be backing down.

“I believe we’ll win, and I will fight this runway as far and for as long as it takes. I want some security for the people who live here,” she said. 

“The only reason we have all we’ve got, all the buildings, everything, is because someone fought to preserve them before us.

“That’s why we are doing what we’re doing. Once they bury it under concrete, all this will be gone.”