Birmingham Airport runway extension expected to be ready by 2014
have been received major construction work on the extension is expected to start
in 2012 with completion by the end of 2014.”
Runway Extension Planned
plans to extend the facility’s runway by 2014.
to the next stage.
agreed to progress with the next stage of the runway extension project.
have been received major construction work on the runway extension is expected
to start in 2012 with completion by the end of 2014.”
towards the cost of diverting the A45 away from the airport perimeter to enable
the 400 metre runway extension to go ahead.
authority Centro will fund the road improvements but where the estimated £33m
required to complete the runway extension will come from is still unclear.
and Victorian Funds Management, together with various local authorities in the
region, are thought to be keen to see the development go ahead because of the
improved status it will bestow on the airport. It is likely the funding will be
piecemeal, enabling the work to be completed in stages.
direct flights to China and the West Coast of the United States within reach of
Birmingham commuters and businesses.
will also be better positioned to relieve capacity over Heathrow and the south
east.
are necessary, while HS2 will place the airport within easy reach of Heathrow
passengers – a prospect more attractive following the Government’s decision to
axe Heathrow’s third runway.
Birmingham & Solihull LEP that the M42 corridor will eventually form part
of a so-called Enterprise Belt channelling investment and job creation opportunities into the area.
movement of goods and people through the region, with the airport forming an essential
hub
today, will they commit their money to paying for the extension of the Runway??
a further £15m of public money to realign the A45 today’s meeting will no doubt
discuss the extension project.
Chris Crean from West Midlands FOE said:
“The £32m cost of realigning the A45 has secured £25m of public money with the
airport stumping up a paltry £7m. The only reason the A45 needs realigning is
to enable the runway extension to proceed. The airport should be paying much more
of these costs.”
The aviation industry receives huge amounts of corporate welfare with no tax
on aviation fuel and no VAT on the sale of planes or tickets. Indeed there has
been much coverage of this topic in recent weeks. That the aviation sector generates
economic activity is not in doubt; the issue for today is why does it require
so much public support?
Chris Crean continued:
“The external costs of the aviation sector are huge and yet it keeps putting
its hands in the taxpayers’ pocket. Surely the aviation sector should be picking
up its fair share of the costs it is placing on society as a whole.”
The realignment of the A45 is a very different scheme to the one promoted during
the planning application process of 2008 which included a tunnel under the runway.
That now seems to have been abandoned for this new scheme. Could this herald an
open season on the Meriden Gap?
eastern side of the M42; the green belt between Solihull and Coventry known locally
as the Meriden Gap. Already the area to the western side of the M42 is covered
in business parks, office developments, car parks and out of town shopping developments.
These are car dependent, traffic-generating and high carbon developments threatening
the revitalisation of our towns and cities.
Chris Crean said:
“The self-proclaimed greenest government ever is encouraging the wrong type of
development in the wrong locations. Environmental regulations are under threat
at the same time as the government is redefining the planning system and scrapping
the regional spatial strategies. The regeneration of our towns and cities is under
threat from traffic-generating developments around the airport.”
(1) In September 2007 Macquarie Airports Group and Aer Rianta sold their 48.25%
in the Airport to the ‘Airport Group Investments Ltd’ (AGIL) for £420 million.
AGIL is a limited company owned by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Victorian
Funds Management Corporation. The current shareholding arrangement is as follows:
Seven West Midlands district councils (49%), Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and
Australia’s Victorian Funds Management Corporation (48.25%) and the Employee Share
Trust (2.75%).