[10][11] The organization's approach was summarized in the headline of a 1995 Guardian article as "Faith, hope and anger: An alliance between the respectable middle classes and radical activists is taking on that scourge of city life the car".

[12] As Stewart told ALARM-UK's inaugural national conference in 1993: "The Department of Transport's nightmare is that isolated local groups that have sprung up to fight a road scheme will start talking to each other, sharing information and co-ordinating campaigns.

The group and its members have repeatedly been quoted by Steve Bird at The Telegraph[19][20][21] (which has a consistent negative editorial position on climate and active travel[22]) and Andrew Ellson at The Times, who has published numerous anti-LTN and anti-active-travel stories.

[25][26] Over the next decade, he established what John Vidal of The Guardian described as "possibly the most formidable coalition ever formed against any single building project in Britain" to oppose the controversial third runway at Heathrow.

[28][29] Stewart's approach, "unity of purpose, diversity of tactics", was credited with enabling radical direct action protesters to work alongside conventional campaigners, council leaders, and MPs,[30] and the runway was scrapped in 2010.

In 2007, along with two members of the Plane Stupid campaign group and a climate change activist, he was named on a High Court injunction, obtained by BAA, which sought to prevent people from "disrupting the operation of the airport".

[3] In 2008, he was voted Britain's most effective environmental campaigner by The Independent on Sunday: "The little-known John Stewart, who leads the onslaught against a third runway at Heathrow, soundly beats far more high-profile figures – from Jonathon Porritt to Zac Goldsmith, from Sir David Attenborough to Prince Charles – to take the honour".