Grow Heathrow: a Lockean analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT On 29 June 2017, Judge Marc Dight authorised the eviction of a community project established on a derelict market garden site to protest against the third runway at Heathrow Airport. Dight’s reasoning was that ‘private landowner [is] entitled to put its land to any form of lawful use, including doing nothing with it’. Using the arguments of John Locke in what some may see as a counter-intuitive way, this paper offers a critique of the judgement based on the principles of avoiding spoilage, leaving enough and as good for others and improving land through the application of labour. I will also examine the specific question of land which is neglected to the point that it is detrimental to the well-being of those around it and provide a counter to the overall anti-expropriation sentiment found in Locke’s work. Although the analysis in this article focuses on a specific paradigm case, it could have wider implications, which will be explored near the end of the article.