Airports report will fail to come up with long-term strategy, warns Justine Greening
Date added: 27 February, 2015
Justine Greening, MP for Putney, Roehampton and Southfields, has warned that the Airports Commission’s long-awaited final report (expected probably in June, before Sir Howard leaves for RBS?) will fail to provide the long-term aviation strategy Britain needs. Justine Greening is deeply opposed to a new Heathrow runway, knowing how miserable it would make life for thousands of her constituents, under flight paths – so she backs a runway at Gatwick instead. She considers a Gatwick runway would provide a “competitive capacity stop-gap”. But she says Gatwick “is not a substitute for the longer term aviation strategy” that she considers Britain needs. In her submission to the Airports Commission consultation, Ms Greening condemned the “incremental, ‘next step’ approach being consulted on”, warning it “continues the short-termism and lack of strategic vision to date, which has led to the capacity constraints we see today”. She goes on to say a 4th Heathrow runway would lead to an overall decrease in airspace capacity over London because it would take up space for flights landing at other London airports. So she is thinking of a new Boris Island airport in the Thames estuary …?
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Airports report will fail to come up with long-term strategy, warns Justine Greening
26 February 2015
The International Development Secretary favours expanding Gatwick rather than building a third runway at Heathrow, which she fears could lead to more planes flying over her Putney constituency.
She said a second runway at the Sussex airport could provide a “competitive capacity stop-gap”.
“However, it is not a substitute for the longer term aviation strategy that Britain so badly needs,” she added in a submission to the Commission, which is due to deliver its final report shortly after May’s general election.
The Commission was set up in an attempt to create a political consensus about where to locate a new runway in the South-East by 2030.
It is chaired by Sir Howard Davies, a former boss of the London School of Economics who is due to become chairman of RBS. In her submission, Ms Greening condemned the “incremental, ‘next step’ approach being consulted on”, warning it “continues the short-termism and lack of strategic vision to date, which has led to the capacity constraints we see today”.
“It is because we have not been prepared to step back and take a longer- term view that we have systematically failed to confront and deal with the issue of our hub airport being in the wrong place,” she added.
She said a third runway at the west London airport would require rehousing and resettlement on a level not seen since the Second World War.
Analysis by the UK’s air traffic controller, she added, had concluded any future fourth runway at Heathrow would lead to an overall decrease in airspace capacity over London because it would take up space for flights landing at other airports.
“We should tackle that looming issue now rather than putting our heads in the sand, and leaving it for future generations to deal with,” she urged.
Her strongly worded intervention is a blow to the Commission and is likely to reignite talk about a “Boris island” airport in the Thames Estuary, a vision the Mayor has refused to give up despite the option not being shortlisted.
Instead, the Commission is examining proposals for a new north-west runway at Heathrow, extending the northern runway so it could be used simultaneously for take-offs and landings or expanding Gatwick.
Posted: Friday, February 27th, 2015. Filed in News about Airports, Recent News.