Boris Johnson explains why London and Britain needs a new airport in the Thames estuary

Comments

[Martin Marprelate- A Man in the Street!]

I hate to disagree with Boris but the Thames Estuary is NOT the place for a new London Airport on cost, safety and environmental impact grounds. Instead why not provide an additional runway at London Gatwick which has the infrastructure already having two terminals linked by a monorail and first class road and rail services and is in relatively open countryside? An enhanced Gatwick could be on-line far quicker and with a lot less hassle and cost than "Boris Island".

[Robert DMML]

Martin: There are no votes in an extra runway at Gatwick or Heathrow even though the cost would be a fraction of Johnson's proposal.

[Harry Hill]

Same goes for the 3rd runway at Heathrow. And I thought this government was for business, instead it rolls over in the face of a few local protesters who all bought their houses knowing full well there was an airport down the road.

[Philias]

When the last government announced the closure of RAF Lyneham and the move of all its assets to Brize Norton I was somewhat surprised at their reasoning.

They closed Lyneham because it was too small and could not be extended yet just along the road was RAF Wroughton empty with a huge footprint and able to be extended to cater for all the RAF's needs. Brize of course was already capable of taking Concord and would be a perfect choice for another Civil Airport. Close to road and rail links which could easily be extended into the site from Swindon and would bring a massive boost to the local economy.

Plenty of votes there instead they decided to opt for the Thames Estuary which is rather silly and a vote loser still, there is no accounting for the stupidity of politicians!

[It doesn't add up...]

This is for the birds.

[Lindsay Jenkins]

At last Boris' plans are inching forwards. This is not about votes but about practicality and building a long term future for this country.

4 runways are the minimum we need, and Boris' Islands allows for 8 in due course.

Anyone who argues about bird strikes should check every other airport in the world. Birds are not just in the Thames Estuary. Approaches over the sea are infinitely preferable on safety grounds, let alone noise, to approaches over cities.

[david]

If we want Heathrow to continue to be a hub airport in competition with Amsterdam, Frankfurt, etc., any expansion should surely be there.

[Kentish Rebel]

If London wants a new airport it should be put in London.

[property inventory London]

Isn`t for the Olympics? Or just because they need it.

[inventory clerk London]

This is something interesting to see in a process of development. Boris is thinking about the city of London.