Campaigners fighting against Barbuda’s controversial international airport say their legal battle continues despite developers’ recent announcement that the facility will be operational within 30 days.
John Mussington and Jackie Frank secured a major victory in February when the Privy Council – the country’s final court of appeal – ruled that the pair had the right to sue the government.
The duo launched legal action in 2018, claiming the airport – created to cater to wealthy visitors’ private jets – would be ecologically destructive.
The airport is a collaboration between central government and PLH developers.
Mussington told Observer earlier today that lawyers acting on behalf of himself and Frank were currently determining the date of the next hearing.
The Privy Council previously held that developers had started work on the airport without proper planning permission and an environmental impact assessment, and had also failed to adequately consult local residents.
“The conglomerate has been ignoring the Privy Council, they do not respect the law, they do not respect the Privy Council. So even last November, while the case was going on, there was poor speed in terms of trying to put things in place to then use the argument that it is completed. They have since escalated in terms of trying to push things to complete it. The airport is not completed, they do not have clearance, they most likely will not get clearance because it’s a matter before the court. Essentially, the case was halted in order to answer that question of standing. Now that the question of standing has been settled, the case will continue. And essentially, the case is about the authorities, the conglomerate and the authorities, they went ahead building an airport and did not follow the laws of Antigua and Barbuda.”
Mussington claimed that both the international airport and an equally contentious 18-hole golf course at PLH’s Barbuda Ocean Club are merely an effort to boost property sales to the world’s elite.
