Council to sue Secretary of State for Transport

The Secretary of State for Transport is to be sued under the Human Rights Act by a parish council. The council is planning to sue over compensation being offered to residents affected by the expansion of Stansted Airport. Under a BAA scheme homeowners within a 66 decibel ‘noise contour’ would be offered their 2002 house price as compensation. The council wants compensation to be based not just on noise, but on the generalised property blight and lower home values caused by expansion at the airport, which it says would affect many more homes. The council says that the scheme amounts to a deprivation of property under the EU Convention on Human Rights.