Olympic cable car ‘at risk from City Airport planes’
Date added: 5 February, 2011
9.2.2011 (Evening Standard)
and
4.2.2011 (BBC)
The planned cable car route will connect Olympic venues on either side of the
river (courtesy Transport for London) A planned cable car across the River Thames may be unsafe because it goes too
close to London City Airport, Friends of the Earth has warned.
The charity wrote to London Mayor Boris Johnson concerned that the cars would
travel through the “public safety zone” around the airport.
It raised the issue at several meetings but felt proper consideration had not
been given to its worries, it said.
Transport for London (TfL) said it taken all safety issues into account.
The cable car will link 2012 Olympic venues at Greenwich and the Royal Docks
and will carry up to 2,500 passengers an hour.
It was designed to cut journey times between the O2 arena and the ExCel exhibition
centre, both of which will host events at the games.
‘Overwhelmingly positive’
Friends of the Earth said it strongly supported the project and if new transport
methods were needed, the scheme “was exactly the sort of initiative TfL should
be considering”.
The scheme’s docking stations were not in the airport’s safety zone, it said,
but a TfL transport assessment “clearly shows the cable car passing through the
passenger safety zone”.
The organisation called for Mr Johnson to commission a “proper analysis of the
safety issues”.
TfL said a planning application had “recently been recommended for approval by
the three relevant planning authorities”.
“This included an assessment against policies relating to public safety,” said
a spokesman.
“In the run-up to our planning application submission, TfL undertook a number
of consultations with the public and stakeholders, including London City Airport.
“The overwhelming response has been positive and in favour of this scheme.
“Feedback from these consultations was included in our final planning application
submissions.”
Maps showing the location of the PSZ are at
see also
and
Calls for Boris Cable Car route across London City airport PSZ to be scrapped
Date Added: 3rd February 2011
Local people around London City Airport have called for Boris Johnson to scrap
his plans for his Cable Car crossing on safety grounds. The Cable Car, which has
received planning permission from Newham Council, is to be built through the London
City Airport Public Safety Zone against DFT Guidelines to the contrary. The Cable
Car system which will carry up to 340 people at any one time is at a higher risk
of being involved in an aircraft incident.
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Posted: Saturday, February 5th, 2011. Filed in News about Airports.
