A group of climate change campaigners have been hauled before the courts – for staging a protest at Manchester Airport.

Nine men and women blocked the entrance to the World Freight Centre to show their anger at plans to knock down family homes on Hasty Lane, Ringway, to make way for a new cargo shed.

They stood in the middle of the road and unfurled banners reading

'More airfreight = more climate change'.

The campaigners blocked Viscount Way – the road entrance to the World Freight Terminal – for around two hours, causing ‘disruption’ to the cargo centre, Trafford Magistrates’ Court heard.

Many workers were unable to gain access to the centre and a number of businesses operating from the site were affected during the early morning protest on May 24 this year, the prosecution claimed.

The group – including Vanessa Hall, the former Green Party councillor for Hulme - pleaded guilty to obstructing the highway when they appeared at Trafford magistrates’ on Monday, December 6.

Andrew Fitzpatrick, defending, insisted the protest was a ‘respectful demonstration’ which was only carried out because the campaigners felt the ‘democratic process was being thwarted’.

He said: “There was no physical harm caused to anyone but there was inconvenience and delay.

“To some extent they say that’s a price worth paying for the point they were trying to make that the expansion of the cargo freight centre followed a planning process that had a number of flaws.

“They felt that the residents of Hasty Lane were overlooked for profit. The protest arose out of frustration at the democratic process being thwarted.”

The protesters did not inform the airport or the police of the planned action – with the authorities only finding out when they turned up on site.

The protest eventually ended when the campaigners were arrested, the court heard.

District Judge Mark Hadfield ordered members of the group to each pay £160 costs plus a £15 surcharge and fined them between £80-£280.

James Alden, 47, of Kingsway, Burnage, was fined £200 with £160 costs and £15 surcharge; Sophia Coles-Riley, 23, of Sholebroke Avenue, Leeds, was fined £80 with £160 costs and £15 surcharge; Alexander Fountain, 22, of Ladybarn Lane, Fallowfield, was fined £240 with £160 costs and £15 surcharge; Timothy Gillibrand, 49, of Nicolas Road, Chorlton Cum Hardy, was fined £130 with £160 costs and £15 surcharge; Vanessa Hall, 37, of Humberstone Avenue, Manchester, was fined £280 with £160 costs and £15 surcharge; Sonny Khan, 38, of Singleton Park, Kendal, was fined £125 with £160 costs and £15 surcharge; Sarah Janet McGowan, 47, of Willow Lane, Lancaster, was fined £85 with £160 costs and £15 surcharge and Jack Steadham, 25, of Trelay Farm, St Gennys, Cornwall, was fined £80 with £160 costs and £15 surcharge. Bernard Guiton, 24, of Crookes Road, Sheffield, also entered a guilty plea and was sentenced in his absence because he was stuck in Spain after the air traffic control strike. He was fined £280 with £160 costs and £15 surcharge.