GREEN Party stalwart Chris Maile will be fighting to save a woodland at a Court of Appeal hearing in London on Monday.

The court battle by environmentalists and residents is to try and save Arthur's Wood - an ancient woodland which faces destruction with the building of Manchester Airport's second runway.

He will claim in court that Manchester Airport does not have the legal right to claim possession from environmentalists living in trees and tunnels on the site.

He will claim that the Airport does not even have the legal right to to go before the court to present a case, but must rely on the land owners, the National Trust, to go to court instead.

Mr Maile, Leigh Green Party, said: "The destruction of Arthur's Wood serves no real useful purpose. The previous Secretary of State for the Environment concluded that cutting the trees in Arthur's Wood would have a devastating effect on the Bollin Valley.

"This court action is aimed at preserving just one little piece of the massive destruction caused by the second runway."

Monday's hearing is for leave to appeal against the decision of Mrs Justice Steel in Manchester, to grant possession of the land to Manchester Airport, along with an application for a stay of that order pending a full hearing of the case some time in the near future.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.