The governments decision to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport is ruled unlawful by the court of appeal. Green campaigners have celebrated the ruling but Business Leaders say the runway is essential for the uks future success. Well, its a fantastic result for friends of the earth and plan b and for the climate. I mean, this is a great day for anybody who is concerned about Climate Change. Whats needed now is for the Prime Minister and the secretary of state to show a little bit of leadership and say, we want to get on and build it. Heathrow airport will appeal, but the government says it will not contest the ruling. Well bring you all the latest. Also this lunchtime the uk threatens to walk away from post brexit trade talks with the eu, if theres no progress byjune. Two more cases of coronavirus are confirmed in england. Both are being treated at specialist centres. And ten more days of difficult conditions are predicted by police for parts of the midlands hit by flooding. And coming up on bbc news, as inter miami prepare for their First Official game, owner David Beckham admits there were times he thought the franchise might not get off the ground. Good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. Environmental campaigners have won a notable victory in the court of appeal, which has ruled the governments decision to give the go ahead to a third runway at Heathrow Airport was unlawful. Thejudges said that ministers had not taken their International Climate change commitments into account. The government will not appeal,
but Heathrow Airport has said it will challenge the judgement. Green campaigners have been celebrating, and have called on the government to cancel the project outright. But supporters of the runway say expansion is vital for britain to compete on the international stage. Roger harrabin reports. Cheering in the sleet and cold they massed outside the appeal court, hoping for a ruling that the government acted unlawfully by failing to take Climate Change into account when it approved the heathrow expansion. Thejudges ruling, when it came, was clear. The secretary of state acted unlawfully in failing to take into account the Paris Agreement on Climate Change when deciding to designate the Airports National policy statement in support of the expansion of Heathrow Airport. The government acted unlawfully. It triggered the scenes ofjubilation outside. The government has been told its got to go away and think again. If they want to resurrect the project they will have to do a full and proper appraisal against all the Climate Change impacts over the full lifetime of the project, and thats a pretty demanding assessment to do. I think its pretty unlikely that heathrow would through that evaluation, but thats a matterfor government. But that hope may be premature. Since its opening in the 19505, heathrow has faced many setbacks to expansion. And normally it gets its own way in the end. Its supporters are not ready to give in. The way out now is for the Prime Minister and the secretary of state to demonstrate that we want to be a proper trading nation and we want to be able to trade through our biggest ports, and that means making whatever amendments need to be made, as suggested by the courts today. That small amendment to factor in Climate Change
is far from small though. If the government does decide to reassess the third runway plan, itll have to show how expanding aviation, our most polluting form of transport, is compatible with meeting its own laws on cutting emissions. We have said we do want to see airport expansion but of course critically it has to match with our ambition, our commitment to be zero carbon by 20 50. Those things have to fit together. There is no way we can tackle Climate Change allowing heathrow expansion to go ahead. I think this project is now dead. Borisjohnson, i think, knows that as well. This is a way in which Boris Johnson can get off the hook, drop the thing now. Its not yet clear how the government will react to the ruling. The eyes of the world will be on this judgment because its ramifications are potentially huge. It suggests that for every major Infrastructure Project planned by the government, there will have to be a clear
demonstration that it fits with the governments on Climate Change laws. And that may often be a very difficult hurdle to cross. We can talk now to our environment correspondent, roger harrabin. A big victory for green campaigners . Yes, its a huge victory for them. Its not quite clear what the total significance is. This decision does not mean that heathrow is dead. It is though severely wounded. It has been quite categorically said by the judges that the secretary of state was unlawful in proceeding with approvalfor the was unlawful in proceeding with approval for the extra runway, without first running of past government Climate Change laws. And it seems to me, just as i said in the piece, this has implications for ulcerative Infrastructure Projects across the uk. Specifically about heathrow, what happens now . We need to wait and see whether he throw themselves decide to appeal. At the moment the government has said it has no plans to appeal. It doesnt mean it wont. Even if it doesnt appeal, it could still go back to scratch and the government could try to make the argument that expanding
heathrow was compatible with Climate Change targets, but frankly, what we know about Climate Change and aviation, that will be a very difficult case to make. Roger, many thanks. Roger harrabin. In a moment well speak to our Global Business correspondent, dharshini david. This probably wont be the last of it, will it . Heathrow airport has said it will appeal. Indeed. It is sort of seeing this judgment today isa sort of seeing this judgment today is a hurdle to overcome, pointing out that Heathrow Airport has taken what it calls a lead in getting the uk aviation sector ready for a net 0 by 2015. Its quite clear why heathrow wants to do this. The boss of heathrow is on record as saying to the bbc in the last couple of days, if we dont have heathrow expansion, they will be no global britain. An exaggeration . Heathrow is in fact our biggest port. 40 of oui is in fact our biggest port. 40 of our exports go through the airport. Business have been backing up what
the airport have been suggesting, some saying this could hurt regional connectivity, it could hurt businesses in terms of getting access to global markets, and yes, we do need a very smooth running logistics system when you are trying to expand overseas trade. But do all these theories hold water . All the studies in recent years have thrown up studies in recent years have thrown up different results when it comes to the economic benefits of a third runway. And indeed there is a problem for transports own figures. They have suggested we could perhaps see flights being diverted from other nearby airports, birmingham, for example, manchester, and that could actually hurt businesses outside of the south east. The ruling isnt about the financial benefits, its about the Economic Cost of the extra 260,000 flights. But it does underline this is not business as usual when it comes to looking at how investment issues will be weighed up. It is about the social cost overall, notjust the economic benefits. Norman smith in westminster, a defeat for the government, but might there be quite a relief at this decision in downing street . L there be quite a relief at this decision in downing street . A bit more than quiet really. Boris johnson will be doing a yes, come on, my johnson will be doing a yes, come i johnson will be doing a yes, come on, my son because this decision really is a body blow for heathrow. A project borisjohnson threatened to lie down in front of the bulldozers to stop. The significant thing today is yes, heathrow are appealing, but the government are not joining appealing, but the government are notjoining them appealing, but the government are not joining them in appealing, but the government are notjoining them in that appealing, but the government are not joining them in that appeal. That will fuel the very strong suspicion that Boris Johnson that will fuel the very strong suspicion that borisjohnson is quite comfortable for the courts to kill off a project which he has long opposed. Why . Because it gets him out of a hole of having to kibosh the project himself. In other words, from having to confront those many tory mps and the Business Community who strongly backed the project. Also, listening to grant shapps, the transport secretary this morning, yes, the government is in favour of aviation expansion and industry led to airport expansion, but did he say
anything about a third runway . Nothing. Where does that leave us . Well, its possible heathrow could win the hearing at the supreme court, but think on this. Is it really credible to believe that heathrow could still go ahead, even though its a private project, that it could still go ahead without the full throated support of the government . Not so sure about that. Norman, thank you. And thank you to dharshini david. If you want to know more about Climate Change and its effects, we have a very clear guide, available on our website bbc. Co. Uk news. The Prime Minister says he could walk away from talks with the eu on trade injune, unless theres the broad outline of a deal. The deadline emerged in the uks guidelines for the negotiations, which were published this morning. Chris morris is here with me now. What sort of details have been laid out . Its 30 pages. It essentially puts
more flesh on the bones of what we have been hearing from the government over the past couple of weeks. There are lots of references to eu free trade deals with countries like japan, canada, korea. It is clear the model of the uk hopes this can be based on. There is a lot in here the sides could agree on but there are differences and the differences are big ones. Probably the biggest one on competition policy for businesses. What is called the level playing field. The eu says the uk needs to stick with eu says the uk needs to stick with eu rules on the way you are allowed to give subsidies to help businesses, and very close to eu rules on workers rights and environmental policies. The uk rejects that out of hand. Not a surprise. We have heard that from the Prime Minister. This puts more detail into what it wants. No alignment with eu rules. We know there are other areas of disagreement. Fisheries is one. The uk says we are going to be an independent coastal state and we will control access to our waters. The eu is suggesting we want the same the eu is suggesting we want the sa m e a ccess the eu is suggesting we want the same access we have now to your waters, otherwise you cant sell your face to waters, otherwise you cant sell yourface to us. Waters, otherwise you cant sell your face to us. The waters, otherwise you cant sell yourface to us. The uk is rejecting that kind of linkage. So there are some big issues which are going to prove problematic. It wouldnt surprise me if in the next few weeks there was a serious breakdown in the talks. And yet in the end i think we know that both sides would like to doa know that both sides would like to do a deal before the end of this year, but we have had this warning, as you said, if by the end of the year, if byjune, it looks like things are not going well, the uk is reserving the right to say essentially, we are walking away from these negotiations and we will focus our preparations on essentially leaving the Single Market and the Customs Union with no trade deal at all. That is the kind of rhetoric at this stage we can expect. Chris, many thanks. Two more patients have tested positive for coronavirus in england, bringing the number of cases across the uk to 15. They caught the virus while in italy and tenerife, and have been transferred
to specialist nhs infection centres. In japan, all state schools are to close until the end of march, as part of efforts to contain the spread of the virus. Sophie hutchinson reports. The Royal Free Hospital in london where one of two new patients with the new coronavirus is being treated. They were infected with the virus while abroad in italy and tenerife. It brings the total number of cases here to 15. The Prime Minister insisted there was no need to panic. I think it is absolutely vital that people do feel reassured. The nhs is a fantastic service. We have made every possible preparation for any eventuality. If you are concerned about travelling abroad to an area that is affected, then the key thing is to look at the fco website for the advice. But across the channel, they are now expecting a crisis. The french president has visited
a paris hospital where the second person has died from the virus. The man, aged 60, had no known links to coronavirus hotspots, became infected. At the authorities are desperately trying to discover how he became infected. Translation we are facing a crisis, an epidemic that is coming, and some countries are already much more affected. We have to organise ourselves differently at each stage and face it as best we can. Italy has reported another increase in deaths today. The Authorities Say they have more than 400 infected people there, but scientists believe the true figure is likely to be nearer to 1000. Further afield in iran, another seven deaths have been reported injust 2a hoursin a spread that appears to be accelerating. The World Health Organization has given this warning to countries around the globe. The second big conclusion for the world is it is simply not ready, but it could get ready very fast, but the big shift has got to be the mindset about what, how were going to deal
with the disease. New precautions are being put in place in saudi arabia, suspending access for foreign pilgrims to holy sites. But it is not clear whether the major pilgrimage later this year will be affected. Injapan, the Prime Minister has called for all schools to close for several weeks from monday. In the us, california, experts have seen the first case of unknown origin, suggesting the virus is spreading within the us. We are very, very ready for this, for anything, whether it is going to be a break out of larger proportions whether or not we are at that very low level. Scientist are working around the clock to understand this virus. There are concerns in china that some patients who have recovered are then testing positive for the coronavirus again. There is still much to be no about how this infection will play out. Sophie hutchinson, bbc news. With me now is our Health Correspondent nick triggle. Two new cases in england. Can this be contained here . These new cases bring the total to 15. But all 15 cases were infected abroad. That is important. There has been no onward transmission in the uk. The British Government is still hopeful it can contain this virus. Every close contact contain this virus. Every close co nta ct of contain this virus. Every close contact of those 15 positive cases is traced and those people are asked to self isolate if that is deemed appropriate. There has been over 7000 tests that have taken place. 0nly 7000 tests that have taken place. Only 15 positives. 0ur Health Editor hugh pym has been to one testing service. This purpose built facility opened only this week. Its at a Community Health trust in west london. And its aimed at people who dont have any symptoms, but have been referred here by nhs111. They come in by appointment. Laura here is a member of nhs staff. Shes just going to demonstrate what actually happens. She stays in the car, she winds down the window and then two members of the nursing team will come out to meet her. One of them has got the full protective equipment on, her colleague stands back at a safer distance. A bit of guidance is provided first as to whats going to happen next. Im going to take two swabs, one from your nose and one from your throat. You might feel a bit sick, so here is a sick bowl just in case. All right . And laura will now be tested. It will involve two swabs, one throat and one nasal. Once again, done without laura having to get out of the car at all. So the swabs are taken. They will then be safely packaged and taken off to be tested. Now laura, or whoever it is, is then free to go home, back into self isolation or to wherever they have been asked to go, while the test results are awaited. This facility is now going to be rolled out at other nhs sites right around the country. So if more people do Start Testing positive, how well prepared is the nhs . If containment does fail, one benefit could be that we delay the spread of the virus in this country until the spring, maybe even the summer, when the weather is warmer and there is less pressure on the nhs. At the moment the patience testing positive are taken to one of five specialist centres, but there are detailed plans to scale that up if needed. There is more than 20 regional units on standby to take patients if we see a spike in numbers. They may have to go back on some of the routine hip replacements to help them cope, but the nhs said the best advice people and follow is washing their hands thoroughly and regularly. The gp rosemary leonard
have been showing us how that was done earlier today. Now this has to take, this is not a quick slap under the tap. You know when you just put your hands. . This is a 20 second routine and there should be a a nail brush as well, like that, and ideally i go up my arms as well. Stepen . Definitely. Its important to get between the fingers, under your nails. We do the same thing in the laboratory. All the surfaces on your hands. Notjust a standard rub together. What doesnt work is a quick which you see everyone doing when in public sort of basins is just quickly under the tap. Then rinse them, ideally dry them with a blow drier, but you can use towels. If theres a mass outbreak, what happens then . The government has some quite drastic powers at its disposal. These will be coordinated by the governments cobra committee. They
could set up 43 local resilience forums. They involve the police, the nhs and local authorities and in theory they could close schools en masse, banned public gatherings and curb the use of public transport. But ministers have been quick to stress we must not overreact, we must be proportionate, because this has implications for society and the economy. After all, the virus only causes a fairly minor illness for a lot of patients. Nick, many thanks. Our top story this lunchtime the governments decision to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport is ruled unlawful by the court of appeal. Coming up. Why the air Ambulance Service is Training School children to save lives. And coming up in the sport in the next 15 minutes on bbc news. The six nations say theyre monitoring the situation after the coronavirus outbreak caused irelands game against italy in early march to be postponed. Therell be another ten days of difficult conditions in parts of the midlands devastated by flooding, according to west mercia police. A yellow weather warning of snow and ice has been issued for much of the midlands, including the river severn in shropshire, where flood defences have buckled under the pressure of water. Residents forced from their homes in ironbridge are facing further problems as more wet weather is forecast. Phil mackie is worcester. The real question is how bad will the weather get over the next couple of days . Because over the last couple of weeks we have watched the water come up, go down, come up, go down again, and come back up. These homes flood a lot, they have flood gates protecting them but the water has been so high for so long. As you said, the problem is this could go
on for a long time yet. The only severe Flood Warning in place is in ironbridge in shropshire where the force of the river caused the flood barriers to buccal. It still looks dramatic today but it is going down. Those railings were com pletely going down. Those railings were completely submerged yesterday. Going down. Those railings were completely submerged yesterdaym is now critical once we get to a certain level, we can get our team to look at the barrier, assess what damage has been done. We have over 200 metres barrier we can replace ready for the next weather front that could bring more rainfall through here. In shrewsbury where they saw record levels earlier this week, the clear up has begun. The water has gone now and its a case of sanitising everything down, and getting everything in place. 0nce this is done, everything is fully functional upstairs. So yes, come on back into shrewsbury. Worcester is
seeing the same record equalling levels it saw last week. Two years ago they raised this road to make it flood proof but the river level is so high they have had to close it to all traffic except for buses. The cricket club has been underwater for 60 days since the beginning of 0ctober. 60 days since the beginning of october. This is normally the busiest part of the city centre, and todayit busiest part of the city centre, and today it is eerily quiet. The train arriving at the station shows the extent of flooding in the centre of the city. Although they are used to it, businesses are having to cope with the fifth flood this winter. It, businesses are having to cope with the fifth flood this winterlj have been here quite a few years and to be fair this is the worst i have ever seen to be fair this is the worst i have ever seen it. We are coping as best we can, but we have our pumps working 2a hours per day to keep the water down, and obviously hoping as soon as water down, and obviously hoping as soon as it goes down to get straight back in, get it cleaned out and reopen again. The environment secretary is paying his first visit today since the flood began 12 days
ago, amid growing criticism. People are telling me they would like someone are telling me they would like someone like boris to come and visit the flooded area, to see the squalor and filth, to see the misery in their homes. They are feeling neglected right now, and they need a big boris cuddle. It is notjust here in the West Midlands. More rain has caused flooding further north. This is state in yorkshire. The peak is still working its way down the river severn in worcestershire. Stoke has spent most of the last fortnight underwater. You might be able to see in the distance the water pouring off the river severn and it is still coming up river severn and it is still coming up this road and causing problems for these houses. Things have begun to look ever so slightly better. It peaked in worcester today and has dropped by may be a few centimetres, but it is a long and slow process. It will probably still be high right
through the weekend, and fingers crossed perhaps the next belt of rain wont hit here so badly. Many thanks. Phil mackie there. Six of the ten largest providers of childrens homes and Foster Carers are operating with huge debts, according to a report for councils in england and wales. The local Government Association says its worried that such financial instability could put at risk the care of vulnerable children. The government is currently carrying out a review of the care system. Heres our social affairs correspondent, alison holt. So this is the open plan area. This Residential Care home can take just three children, but each place is in high demand. They get about 30 requests a day from councils, one sign of a system struggling to cope with the growing number of children needing a safe space. Obviously we are a three bed home. We dont have the capacity to even look at the referrals. So, you know, theres a huge need for more homes like ours. Fees for childrens homes can easily cost more than £3,000 a week. This small independent home says that allows them to provide quality support, but Large Companies now dominate childrens social care. Todays report for the local Government Association raises serious concerns about the huge debts those big firms are racking up. It found six out of the Ten Largest Companies had more debts than assets. Many of those were backed by private equity finance, and some were making more than 20 profit on their income. Councillors are worried by the rise in the fees they now face, and the stability of the big companies. I think if you saw what happened with Southern Cross with Adult Social Care back in 2011, where the system collapsed, we dont want that to happen with childrens social care. We dont want to wait until that happens before the government steps in. There are also concerns that children like robin not her real name
end up being sent miles from where they live because local care home places go to the highest bidder. She was 12 when she was sent to a home nearly two hours away from family and friends. I was really close to all my teachers and the school, so being took out of it was really hard, as well as being took from my family. That kind of leads on to the child thinking its got no one and its alone, so they could lead to a really bad path. Some councils are now opening their own care homes like this one, but private Care Companies insist they provide value for money and say they want to work more closely with local authorities to meet the increasing needs of children. What were looking at is growing the sector and having more homes to meet the needs of the growing number of children. I dont think we can actually afford to say one thing isnt right, because what we need is the whole spectrum. The government says it is currently reviewing the care system to ensure it provides the best possible support for children. Alison holt, bbc news. School children in the West Midlands are being trained in methods to stop catastrophic bleeding from stabbing. Specialist bleed kits will also be distributed to schools in the area. The move follows the release of figures from the midlands air Ambulance Service, which shows that stabbings are among their top four reasons for being called out, with paramedics attending two incidents a week. Kathryn stanczyszyn reports. This lesson could mean the difference between life and death. Its a trauma pressure bandage, which you can put on a bleeding wound. In a departure from normal Critical Care work, Midlands Air Ambulance paramedics are now delivering training to schoolchildren on how to deal with stab victims. I try to stop his blood circulation so he doesnt bleed out. These teenagers are learning how to use the specialist bleed control kits. They contain heavy duty bandages, like this, and also a military grade tourniquet. Theyre designed to save lives,
particularly in the event of catastrophic injuries from stabbings. Theres a lot about youth crime kind of growing up these days, so i think its more important for, like, Young Children especially to kind of learn this. When we see something, were the ones to first see it its not the ambulance. We are the ones that have to make the call for the ambulance. These teenagers are doing a Public Services course at worcester sixth form college. Staff here would like all 1,600 pupils to receive the training, and say schools should embrace it. I think there is some concern that maybe youre getting this training because youre more likely, or your school is unfortunately at the centre of these incidents, but hopefully most people are going to look at it and see that actually prevention is better than a cure. Its notjust secondary schools taking it up. Primary schools are, too. It comes as knife crime in the West Midlands is at a record high. Lynne baird lost her son in a stabbing in 2017. Her charity is behind these kits, and shes come to the strensham airbase to find out more. How are the kids taking it . Theyre super enthusiastic. And it seems this new collaboration is timely. In 2019, Midlands Air Ambulance attended on average two stabbings a week, and that was just in daylight hours. Its now amongst the top four of most frequent missions for the charity, whereas just a few years ago it was a fairly rare occurrence. Theyre now on course to deliver bleed kit training to 60 schools in the midlands by the end of april. With the greatest will in the world, we wish these cases werent happening. What we want to be able to do is be able to give them the best chance of having a good outcome and the best chance of survival. Lynnes kits are now being taken up by organisations across the country, including police forces, but she thinks training young people is key to saving lives. Absolutely amazing that weve gone as far as we have, but theres still a lot more to be done and wed like to see this go nationwide. Kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news. The uks entry for this years
eurovision song contest is james newman with his song my last breath. Hell represent britain at the events final in rotterdam in may. The singer song writer has worked with some of the biggest names in music, including ed sheeran. The song was selected by Record Company executives and the bbc after previous entries chosen by the public failed to impress the eurovisionjudges. If you had nothing left id give you my last breath. That was james newman. Time for a look at the weather. Heres helen willetts. While some of us were experiencing the first snow, a storm was named. This is the picture for st albans up to high wycombe this morning as well, but that is all on the way out
now. We are turning