Residents Lose Battle Over Missiles

3rd July 2012, 18:52

Comments

Tenants at the Fred Wigg Tower in Leytonstone, east London, fear the missile base above their heads could make them the focus for a terrorist attack.

But a judge ruled the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was legally entitled to decide there was "no credible threat" and the siting of the missiles was both "legitimate and proportionate" because of the "unprecedented" circumstances of the Games.

He rejected arguments that it would have been "proportionate" to put residents suffering from fear and anxiety in hotels for the duration of the games, or to require the MoD to build a gantry in open space to take the missiles.

Lawyers for the residents are considering whether to launch an emergency appeal to the Court of Appeal.

The other sites chosen to guard against any Olympic air threat are the Lexington Building in Tower Hamlets, east London; Blackheath Common and Oxleas Wood, both in south-east London; William Girling Reservoir in the Lea Valley reservoir chain in Enfield; and Barn Hill at Netherhouse Farm in Epping Forest.