if they have dug a hole somewhere in connection to the above planning permission then they are fine.
Do bore holes made for soil sampling count? If so, then quite a few of these were made either last year of perhaps the year before. For a few weeks there was machinery doing the drilling in the park area south of Bath Rd up to the M25. The people doing the drilling told me it was part of preparatory work for the 3rd runway, although I was a bit doubtful as the area being drilled was slightly to the south of approach to 09L.
How many here remember Tomorrow's World? I remember a feature on that programme one night which went along the lines of "Air traffic will grow hugely so there will be a need for bigger aircraft, flying more people on fewer flights operated on a Hub and Spoke basis". I wonder if somebody who was destined later in life to be in a position at Airbus to convince them that there was an absolute cast iron case for a larger aircraft and could we call it something the A380?
There was an "expert" on Radio 4 yesterday, pontificating on all the inns and outs of Heathrow expansion, alternative arrangements etc. I was only half listening so it was was only background noise to me but he got my attention when he mentioned a "secret runway, already available at Gatwick". Followed by "Manchester isn't yet quite big enough for 2 runway operations". That was when I realised I had been listening to an "expert" of the biblical or media kind. Maybe a politician?
I would predict though an application for an extra runway at Gatwick soon. The airport apparently owns a lot of the land to the south of the airport and, a couple of years ago, I was talking to chap there who claimed he had been told by a farmer there that he (farmer) had been given 3 years notice that Gatwick would be ending the lease.