Ok – Now might not be the best time to be looking to invest in property as the credit crunch takes hold, but how about a little investment in land near London?
The upsides are that, if you like that kind of thing, you will have famous neighbours: the Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson, British comedian Alastair McGowan, and Conservative party green adviser Zac Goldsmith, have all signed up to the land deal.
The only trouble with the plot of land is that it is right in the middle of where the British Government wants to build a third runway at Heathrow.
If the runway is built, the ugly truth for the industry is that an expanded Heathrow would become the biggest single source of C02 emissions in the UK, despite all their attempts to downplay the environmental impact of aircraft.
Greenpeace has bought the land in an innovative attempt to stop the airport expansion. Just as the young American activist Tim DeChristopher, managed to disrupt Bush’s last auction to sell land to the oil companies, Greenpeace hopes to disrupt the go-ahead of Heathrow’s third runway, about which the government is expected to announce this week.
Greenpeace, along with the other owners, now intend to split the parcel of land into as many small parcels as they can all around the world. Thousands of people could end up owning land. The airports owners – BAA – would then have to compulsory purchase each and every parcel of land from every owner, which would be extremely time consuming and costly. It could take years, by which the case for action on climate will be so compelling that no runway could ever be built (if we haven’t reached that stage already).
The actress Emma Thompson is outraged at the plans by the government to build a third runway: “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.”
The comedian Alistair McGowan added: “The government is sticking two fingers up to the environment and the people of this world. By giving this runway the go-ahead Gordon Brown is effectively holding a giant blow torch to the polar ice-caps and saying ‘Melt, Melt !'”
So if you want to help stop climate change and buy a bit of the airplot go here.