BAA is celebrating a hollow victory today (Monday) after being granted a heavily watered down injunction against environmental campaigners.

A BAA spokesman outside the High Court welcomed the injunction as helping to keep Heathrow Airport "safe and secure", but campaigners claim the decision is a victory over BAA.

The company, which owns Heathrow Airport, had sought an injunction against John Stewart of HACAN and AirportWatch, Geraldine Nicholson from NoTRAG, and Leo Murray and Joss Garman representing Plane Stupid.

BAA wanted to prevent the four individuals, and all members and supporters of the four campaign groups, from entering land around the airport and from using road and rail links, including sections of the London Underground, M4, and M25.

BAA said it was trying to stop "passengers and staff from being harassed or obstructed by any unlawful direct action" at the upcoming Camp for Climate Action, an environmental protest against climate change and airport expansion taking place next week.

But the judge hearing the injunction application was unimpressed with BAA's "extraordinarily wide-ranging" proposal, which originally covered vast parts of the London transport infrastructure, and could have affected nearly 5 million people.

BAA put forward press releases, newspaper clippings, and a short film supporting their claim that the groups intended to harass the airport and were planning disruptive direct action. Timothy Lawson-Cruttenden, representing BAA, alleged that "lives could be put at risk" if protesters blockaded roads leading to Heathrow, opening them up to terrorist attack.

But Mrs Justice Swift rejected a host of applications from BAA, and dismissed entirely its argument that the groups intended to harass BAA and Heathrow airport. She granted an injunction that does little more than enforce the existing byelaws.

The injunction, which now only covers Leo Murray, Joss Garman, John Stewart, and members and supporters of Plane Stupid, prevents those people from trespassing and causing a nuisance on land owned by BAA during August.

Police have been authorised to arrest those covered by the injunction if they try to trespass on to Heathrow land, or incite others to do so.