Muirhead did not bias Airports Commission, says judge

A HIGH Court judge has ruled that the presence of former Manchester Airports Group’s chief executive Geoff Muirhead on the Airports Commission did not bias its decisions.

Mr Muirhead led MAG until October 2010 and continued in an ambassadorial role until January 2013 when the group acquired Stansted from BAA for £1.5bn.

It has since advocated building a second runway at Stansted or developing it as a four-runway hub.

The Government-appointed Airports Commission is due to present its initial proposals on how to tackle airport capacity problems in London and the South East by the end of the year.

But campaigners from the Stop Stansted Expansion group (SSE) argued the criteria it used to decide on new runway sites was “infected by apparent bias”, because of the presence of Mr Muirhead who stepped down in September.

The group wanted the commission to delay the publication of its short-list of expansion locations until the criteria have been looked at again and consulted on.

Mrs Justice Patterson ruled that both Mr Muirhead and the commission might have acted in a way that was not “the most wise” and their conduct could have been regarded by a fair-minded observer as “less than ideal”. But the apparent bias accusation was not supported by the evidence.

SSE is considering whether or not to appeal the decision.