Thames Estuary Airport News

Report by Mayor of London on runway issue: Boris pushes strongly for 4-runway hub in Thames estuary (or Stansted)

Boris Johnson, due to leave office as Mayor of London in early May, has delivered a blistering attack on a 3rd Heathrow runway – and put forward, again, his vision of a huge 4-runway hub airport in the inner Thames Estuary (“Boris Island”). The Airports Commission’s imperfect report came down definitively backing a Heathrow runway, and ruled out the estuary option for a range of geographical, cost and environmental reasons. Boris says, in a report entitled“Landing The Right Airport”, that a four-runway airport east of London is the only way to secure enough capacity. His other option is Stansted. He believes these sites “away from populated areas” were the “only credible solution”. Daniel Moylan, Boris’s aviation adviser, said the inner Thames estuary airport would cost £20bn to £25bn – with an extra £25bn required to building road and rail connections. He said the 3rd Heathrow runway is estimated to cost £18.6bn, not taking into account the cost of surface access and measures to stop congestion, which the new report claims could be as high as £20bn. The report concludes: “As part of its next phase of work, it is incumbent on Government to revisit the entire Airports Commission process and consider a full range of credible options – including alternative hub locations. A failure to do so will undermine any attempt to bring forward a National Policy Statement and leave a decision vulnerable to legal challenge.

Click here to view full story…

Airports Commission gives comprehensive & unambiguous decision not to short-list a Thames estuary airport

2.9.2014

As widely leaked, the Airports Commission has decided against short listing an inner Thames estuary airport scheme, for further consideration. The Commission had intended not to short list the scheme back in December 2013, but were persuaded to give the concept further thought. The Commission’s report wording  is unambiguous. They say, to take a few direct quotes: ” we are not persuaded that a very large airport in the Thames Estuary is the right answer to London’s and the UK’s connectivity needs.” “To roll the dice on a very risky project, where delays and overruns are highly likely, would be reckless.”     “…Commission has concluded that the proposal for a new ITE airport has substantial disadvantages that collectively outweigh its potential benefits. Cumulative obstacles to delivery, high costs and uncertainties in relation to its economic and strategic benefits contribute to an assessment that an ITE airport proposal does not represent a credible option for short-listing.” And “…if UK carbon emissions are to be kept within the overall cap, concentrating a very high number of flights in one location could limit the scope for growth elsewhere and hence reduce the overall diversity of the UK airports system.”                       So a very definite NO.         Link to the report

Click here to view full story …      


 

Holland-Kaye open letter to Boris asking him to back Heathrow runway if estuary plan rejected by Airports Commission

Heathrow’s chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, has appealed to the London mayor, Boris Johnson, to back its campaign for a 3rd runway, ahead of the possible dismissal of his own Thames estuary scheme from consideration by the Airports Commission. In an open letter to Boris, Holland-Kaye says he and Boris share the same belief that only a large, hub airport can (allegedly) provide the scale and range of global flights that – they claim – the economy needs. Neither of them believe a new runway at Gatwick would give what they claim the UK “needs.” Holland-Kaye’s letter says: “We have nothing against Gatwick but you have rightly identified that its claim that it can deliver the same benefits as a hub airport is ‘a sham, a snare and a delusion’.” Boris said, of Heathrow’s 3rd runway plans, last year: “Anyone who believes there would be the space to do that at Heathrow, which already blights the lives of hundreds of thousands of Londoners, is quite simply crackers.” The situation has been complicated by Boris’ decision to apply to become MP for Uxbridge. He said in May: “I will respect the findings of the Davies Commission but I will not abide by them.”

Click here to view full story…


Boris Johnson’s Thames estuary airport hopes could “crash” as early as next week

Gwyn Topham, in the Guardian, speculates that Boris’ plans for a Thames estuary mega-airport may be given a merciful death very soon, if the Airports Commission decides against adding them to the short-list of airport schemes to be given detailed consideration. Boris and TfL submitted yet another report, on 26th August, pressing for the estuary scheme. But then within hours, Boris formally applied to be MP for the west London constituency, Uxbridge & South Ruislip, where many businesses depend on Heathrow, which he supposedly wants to close. Gwyn writes: “As early as next week the Commission may ease any Johnson embarrassment by finally dismissing the idea of a brand new hub.” Guardian article           [But if Boris gets to be the new MP, his fierce opposition to a 3rd Heathrow runway means there would be yet further pressure to back a Gatwick runway. That will not go down well with the intensely Conservative-voting areas of Kent, Sussex and Surrey, which would bear the brunt of these political manoeuverings] 

Boris produces TfL report on estuary airport, saying Sir Howard & the Commission “must” short list it

Boris remains desperate to get his fanciful plans for a Thames Estuary airport short listed by the Airports Commission, which has repeatedly found it would not be a realistic option. The Commission’s verdict on inclusion (or not) of the estuary scheme, in the airport plans to be taken forward for detailed consideration -and public consultation – is expected next month. In an 11th hour attempt to persuade the Commission to keep it in, Boris has got TfL to do yet another report, pushing the scheme and making out that is imperative. The report is called “Gateway to our Future”, is a good example of an attitude towards encouraging and facilitating growth, and more growth, in the manner of the cancer cell – regardless of what damage that never-ending growth has on other things. The report goes big on the numbers of jobs created, the need for London to grow into an even more massive city, for it to have a vast airport (as if London did not already have the largest airport for international passengers in the world)…. and so on. Says Sir Howard “must” include it. Boris’ aim is to bamboozle the Commission and Sir Howard into including his scheme. …. Regardless of huge volumes of evidence recently produced, showing just how unrealistic – and damaging – an estuary airport would be. Boris the bully?

Click here to view full story…


Reports on Thames Estuary airport plan show it is costly, risky for the taxpayer and a potential failure

Serious doubt has been cast on the prospect of a Thames estuary airport plan going ahead. Four reports have been produced for the Airports Commission, to aid their consideration of whether an estuary airport should be one of the short listed options to be taken forward, in September. One of three reports prepared for the commission published on Friday has said of the estuary plan: “Overall, the challenges to transition are considerable and amount to a significant cost and risk to the taxpayer in terms of commercial negotiations, infrastructure development and potential failure.” Another report says Heathrow would have to close if the estuary scheme went ahead and that Heathrow’s owners would have to be paid compensation of between £13.5 billion and £21.5 billion. The third report cited possible transport improvement costs associated with the new airport of between £10.1bn and £17.2bn for road, and up to £27 billion for rail. The report on environmental impacts which estimated that moving affected wildlife away from the new airport could cost as much as £2bn could cost as much as £2bn.

Click here to view full story…


Four Inner Thames Estuary airport studies for Airports Commission finally kill off “Boris Island”

The Airports Commission has now published all four of the studies it has commissioned on an Inner Thames Estuary (ITE) airport. These reports are on environmental impacts, operational feasibility and attitudes to moving to an estuary airport, socio-economic impacts, and surface access. The first report, on environmental impacts was utterly damning, confirming the massive extent of the harm done to highly conserved habitats and their wildlife, and the near impossibility of successfully moving the wildlife elsewhere. Now the report on the feasibility of moving the airport shows the problems of flood risk, fog, wind direction, bird strike, explosives on the SS Montgomery and the Isle of Grain gas terminal – with many practically insurmountable. The report on socio-economic impacts demonstrates that aeronautical charges would have to be very high to pay for the airport, and be too high to compete with Dubai etc. Heathrow would have to close, at immense cost. The surface access report shows the cost of even minimal rail services to get most passengers to the airport would be £10 billion and more like £27 billion for a good service. The cost of road improvements would be £10 to £17 billion. The reports’ conclusions now make it nearly inconceivable that a Thames Estuary Airport will ever be constructed.

Click here to view full story…


Report for Airports Commission on environmental impact sinks Boris’s estuary airport plans

Boris Johnson’s dreams of a massive airport in the Thames Estuary have had a major setback, from the new report produced for the Airports Commission, looking at the environmental impacts. The study shows it would cause huge environmental, financial and safety risks and would cause “large scale direct habitat loss” to hundreds of thousands of migrating birds. The cost of creating replacement habitats could exceed £2 billion and may not even be possible. Even if replacement habitat could be found, planes using the airport would still be at a “high risk” of lethal bird strike. In order to counter this risk, even larger areas of habitat would need to be destroyed to secure the airport. The report also found huge regulatory hurdles to any potential estuary airport going ahead. Under environmental regulations,the airport’s backers would have to prove there were “imperative reasons of overriding public interest (IROPI)” for placing the airport in such an environmentally sensitive area. Even if that could be proven, they would also need to demonstrate that all of the habitat displaced by the airport could be placed elsewhere. The report found that while this was “technically possible,” it was highly uncertain, as such a large scale displacement had never been attempted before.

Click here to view full story…


Airports Commission publishes “Environmental Impacts” report on Thames Estuary airport, for comment

The Airports Commission has undertaken to commission studies to assess whether a Thames Estuary airport should be short-listed, with the 3 schemes (Heathrow airport, Heathrow Hub, and Gatwick airport) to Phase 2 – for detailed consideration. These studies would be published in July, and accordingly, now the first study has been produced. It is on Environmental Impacts, and it was carried out by Jacobs Consultancy. The report is and is over 200 pages long, and appears to be thorough. It is clear that the extent of the environmental damage done by an airport would be huge, and the mitigation measures needed would be on a scale not seen before in Europe, if such mitigation was possible. It also stresses that, to allow this degree of environmental harm, “the Secretary of State for Transport would need to be certain that no alternative solutions existed, had considered the best scientific knowledge and taken into account the representations of Natural England and Environment Agency. If this test is passed it would need to be demonstrated that the proposals were needed for Imperative Reasons of Overriding Public interest (IROPI).” The Commission invites comment on whether the report contains errors, or if anything has been omitted, by 8th August.

Click here to view full story…


Boris gets another report produced, pushing potential benefits of more flights to regions from his estuary mega-airport

Boris’ Transport for London has produced a report (done for them by York Aviation and Oxford Economics) which pushes his Thames Estuary airport plan. The report “Making Connections” is angled to get support from the regions by saying Heathrow cannot, even with a 3rd runway, cope with demand from all the regional airports. It says that only Boris’ 4 runway new airport could give all the regions lots of connecting flights. The report anticipates 49 more regional flights per day than with a Heathrow 3rd runway. There are the usual figures of the amount of economic growth, and the number of jobs, that this monster airport in the estuary would produce. It says there would be “a £2.1 billion economic stimulus for the regional economies by 2050 in the form of increased Gross Value Added (GVA) and over 17,550 new jobs.” A York Aviation spokesperson said a 3rd Heathrow runway “would not support any new [regional] routes due to commercial pressures on airlines”. Boris and his backers always conveniently ignore the inconvenient fact that the UK cannot fit two extra runways into our climate targets.

Click here to view full story…


Boris claims there is a ‘political fix around Gatwick’ while he makes last pitch to Airports Commission for estuary airport

Boris has now submitted his dossier to the Airports Commission, in support of his plan for a massive hub airport in the Thames estuary. The Commission had given Boris extra time in which to address critical questions concerning his plans. Boris claimed that the government was edging towards giving Gatwick the go-ahead, saying there was “a political fix around Gatwick”. He said, in all parties: “A lot of money is moving off Heathrow and on to Gatwick. Heathrow is closer to the answer but not deliverable. Gatwick is more deliverable but it is not the right answer.” He said, expanding Gatwick was “a sham, a snare, a delusion”. Boris hopes his estuary airport could be built for about £25 billion, with £25bn more for surrounding transport infrastructure, and £14 billion more to buy and close Heathrow, which would be redeveloped as a new suburb. Boris makes the usual claims about jobs and growth of the economy, and gives no thought at all to the fact that two new runways cannot be fitted within UK carbon targets. Boris’s evidence from the CAA shows a 3rd Heathrow runway would bring the number of people exposed to severe aircraft noise to more than a million. Utterly unacceptable.

Click here to view full story…


 

Survey by Medway Council & Kent County Council shows 84% against Thames Estuary airport

Five out of six people would oppose building a new airport in the Thames Estuary if it meant closing Heathrow and other airports, a survey has found. An estuary airport on the Isle of Grain and the closure of Heathrow has been proposed by London Mayor Boris Johnson. The online survey of 2,000 adults from across the UK was commissioned by Medway Council and Kent County Council, which oppose a new Thames Estuary airport. They say that financially, geographically and environmentally the estuary airport project is wrong – and it would be a huge waste of public money. The survey found 38% of those asked supported an estuary airport. But when they were told Heathrow, City and Southend airports could close as a result, (which they would probably have to) the support dropped to 16%, or just over one in six. Boris is due to submit final plans for the estuary airport to the Airports Commission today. The cost of the airport has now risen to £148bn for the Isle of Grain option. Boris wants a city of 190,000 homes on the Heathrow site, if the airport shuts [which is utterly unlikely].

Click here to view full story…


Boris spends £90,000 on architects to draw up plans to build over Heathrow site

Boris Johnson , through TfL, is paying 3 architectural firms £90,000 to draw up plans for new homes on the site of Heathrow airport despite there being no plans to demolish it and City Hall having no control over its future. The Mayor wants to replace Heathrow with a new airport in the Thames Estuary though his schemes have neither the support of the UK coalition Government, which controls aviation policy, nor many major airlines. The Airports Commission is currently considering whether a Thames estuary airport is sufficiently viable to be consulted on in the autumn (along with Heathrow and Gatwick options ). Despite the lack of control over aviation policy and without backing for his scheme, Boris has instructed TfLto draw up proposals for increasing runway capacity. Each architect firms will be paid £30,000 for their work , to “provide designs that cover several options for redevelopment of a site that could potentially support 90,000 new jobs and provide homes for 190,000 people.” Up to April 2014 Boris had spent £3 million on promoting is estuary schemes.

Click here to view full story…


Cost of promoting Estuary airport to cost Londoners double

31 Mar 2014 (ITV)

The cost to London council taxpayers of promoting the controversial “Boris Island” airport scheme is to almost double to £5m.    The mayor is set to increase the current £3m budget to allow his officials to continue making the case for an estuary airport.  The scheme for a new international hub airport on the Isle of Grain in Kent failed to make the shortlist announced by the government’s Airports Commission in December. Additional runways at either Heathrow or Gatwick emerged as the favourites but commission chairman Sir Howard Davies agreed to take a second look at Boris Island. Boris Johnson said the idea was still alive after it was “plucked from the waste paper bin.” He told ITV News: “Failure is not something we are currently contemplating”   London Assembly Labour member Dr Onkar Sahota accused the mayor of wasting Londoners’ money. “This is a pie in the sky idea which no one wants”, he said.

http://www.itv.com/news/london/2014-03-31/boris-johnson-on-estuary-airport-failure-is-not-something-were-contemplating/


Hillingdon Leader unveils vision with 2 scenarios of future Heathrow without the airport  – presuming a hub airport in the Thames estuary

April 1, 2014

The Leader of Hillingdon Council has set out his vision for the redevelopment of the Heathrow site should the government decide that a new hub airport ought to be built elsewhere in the south east. There has been a lot of scare mongering promoted by Heathrow, and its lobbying campaign, “Back Heathrow” to cause concern that jobs in the Heathrow area would be lost if a 3rd runway was not allowed. On the same day that Boris set out his own 4 scenarios for the area, if Heathrow closed, Hillingdon now sets out its 2 possible scenarios, in its “Heathrow Park: A Better Future for Heathrow.” These are: (1). A smaller West London Airport similar in scale to City Airport; with “Heathrow Park” delivering 31,000 homes for an estimated 67,000 people, and including those at the airport, around 72,000 jobs. (2). If Heathrow Airport closed completely Hillingdon anticipate the creation of “Heathrow Park” with up to 45,000 homes (30% affordable) for nearly 100,000 people, with over 66,000 jobs and a wide range of education, health, public open space and community facilities. In the 2nd scenario, For both scenarios, the principle settlement of Heathrow Gardens and the surrounding ‘urban villages’ will be centred on existing tube and rail networks to maximise connectivity.

Click here to view full story…


 

Boris sets out his 4 ideas for future of Heathrow site if airport is closed –  presuming a hub airport in the Thames estuary

April 1, 2014

Boris has produced a report on what might happen to Heathrow and its surrounding area, if the airport was shut (and a massive airport built on the Thames estuary). The report sets out 4 schemes. Boris says he is “prompting a genuine, honest discussion about what London could achieve in a world post Heathrow.” He said: “The money seems to be going on Gatwick, but I do not think that is the long-term solution that London needs – in having a dual hub solution.” The 4 schemes are for a new education and technology quarter, with 2 new large campus universities; a new town, with over 48,000 homes for 112,000 people and 76,000 jobs created in total ; a new residential quarter, on the scale of Hammersmith and Fulham, with 82,000 new homes supporting a population of 200,000, and 54,000 jobs; or a Heathrow City, with education and commercial research, high value manufacturing,knowledge parks and office development – with 80,000 homes and 90,000 jobs created. The report says many of the jobs currently provided at Heathrow would “move to the new airport and be easily accessible via the world class transport links proposed.” There is a separate report by Hillingdon.

Click here to view full story…


 

Airports Commission now consulting on Thames estuary airport options – deadlines 14th February and 23rd May

January 18, 2014

On 16th January the Airports Commission published its consultations on Thames estuary airport options. It did not short-list an estuary option, in its interim report on 17th December. Now there will be a first consultation, ending on 14th February on four options in the inner estuary. The Commission are asking for comments on its current position on the proposed terms of reference, especially if they contain gaps or weaknesses and whether other specific analyses need to be undertaken. There will be a second deadline date, ending on 23rd May, on an inner Thames proposal in which respondents are invited to submit analysis, evidence, and additional research or comments. The Commission says this will give sufficient time to ensure that appropriate evidence can be considered to inform the final study outputs before the studies are concluded and published. The Commission says it “expects to procure expert assistance from consultants in environmental appraisal and technical support; in the provision of engineering, airport operations and logistics consultancy and in the provision of economic modelling, commercial and financial appraisal.” Presumably at public expense (the Commission has a budget of £20.35 million over 4 years, from DfT). The Commission expects to be in a position to publish many of the study outputs by July 2014, to ensure that any further evidence from interested parties is taken into account before a decision is made in September.” Final public consultation on the schemes starts in October.    Click here to view full story…

 

TESTRAD questions Airports Commission decision to rule out their “London Britannia” estuary airport

January 18, 2014

TESTRAD (the Thames Estuary Research and Development Company has appealed to the Airports Commission for more information on how it reached its decision not to short-list a Thames Estuary Airport. The TESTRAD CEO Bridget Rosewell has written to Sir Howard Davies, saying they are “concerned about the adequacy of the assessment upon which the Commission has based its conclusions for the final short-list”. Sir Howard said that seeing merit for potential to boost economic development to the east of London and reduce noise over the Capital, the Commission would undertake further assessment of its own for a potential airport on the Estuary’s Isle of Grain. A decision on whether to include it on the short-list will be made by “late summer” in time for the consultation on the chosen options in October. At the RunwaysUK conference, the Grain possibility was discussed and it was clear that arguments against it were hugely stronger than those for it. It makes little practical, economic or environmental sense. Bridget Rosewell and her team want clarification on why TESTRAD’s and other Estuary proposals were deemed “not credible”. She also says some projects (Heathrow?) were given preferential access to the Commission and wants details of those meetings.     Click here to view full story…

 

 

Building a vast new airport on the Isle of Grain would close Southend Airport

January 15, 2014

If a large new airport is built on the Isle of Grain, Kent, as London Mayor Boris Johnson has suggested, a clash of air space would mean Southend Airport – and City Airport in London – would probably need to close, the Airports Commission has warned in its Interim Statement. They said this could reduce the options available to low cost airlines and reduce the overall gains to airport capacity over the London area overall. They said that, in particular, it would be very challenging to manage the airspace with the 3 airports. Due to last-minute lobbying by the Mayor and Daniel Moylan, the Commission agreed to look at the £112 billion Isle of Grain scheme, put forward by Wembley Stadium designer Lord Norman Foster in more detail,in the first half of 2014, before deciding whether it should be included in the final short-list consultation starting in October. Southend airport has been emphasising how much money they have already invested in the airport. Nigel Holdcroft, leader of Southend Council, said: “The development of a major airport on the Isle of Grain would have adverse economic and environmental effects on Southend.”      Click here to view full story…

 

Airports Commission publishes interim report with 2 options for a runway at Heathrow and 1 at Gatwick. Estuary still being considered

December 17, 2013

The Airports Commission’s interim report has put forward 3 options for a new runway, and have kept their options open on an estuary airport. There would only be one runway, not two and they consider this should be in operation before 2030. At Heathrow the choices are a north west runway, 3,500 metres long, destroying Harmondsworth; and an extension westwards of at least 3,000 metres, of the existing northern runway. They also consider a wide spaced Gatwick runway to the south. The Commission also says “there is likely to be a demand case for a 2nd additional runway to be operational by 2050.” They claim this is “consistent with the Committee of Climate Change’s advice to government on meeting its legislated climate change targets.” Stansted is ruled out, and on the Thames Estuary they say: “The Commission has not shortlisted any of the Thames Estuary options because there are too many uncertainties and challenges surrounding them at this stage. It will undertake further study of the Isle of Grain option in the first half of 2014 and will reach a view later next year on whether that option offers a credible proposal for consideration alongside the other short-listed options.” The report also contains recommendations to the government for immediate action to improve the use of existing runway capacity. Among others, these include better airspace organisation and surface transport improvements such as enhancement of Gatwick station, a rail link from the south to Heathrow, and a rail link between Heathrow and Stansted.    Click here to view full story…

 

Mayor’s adviser admits ‘Boris airport’ may be dumped by Airports Commission

December 9, 2013

Boris Johnson’s aviation adviser, Daniel Moylan, has admitted that proposals for a new hub airport in the Thames Estuary are “at risk” of being ditched by Sir Howard Davies when he publishes a shortlist of options for additional runway capacity in the South East on 17th December. The mayor has also put forward suggestions to transform Stansted (an area he does not represent in any way) “out of all recognition” into a new four-runway hub and advocated closing Heathrow and transforming it into a new London borough with up to 80,000 new homes. This week a jobs report from three councils in the Heathrow area, Hounslow, Slough and Ealing, will spell out the dangers of shutting Heathrow. The airport claims that the 76,600 people it directly employs would be made redundant overnight if Heathrow was to be replaced by a massive estuary airport, but the 3 councils’ report is likely to put the figure far higher. The councils say the closure of Heathrow would have a huge impact on thousands of families.” Curiously and inconsistently, Boris is not bothered about the harm his Stansted plans would inflict on people there, but Mr Moylan talks about Heathrow expansion inflicting misery on a million people, or developing Gatwick into a four-runway hub airport.   Click here to view full story…

 

“London Britannia” (aka ‘Boris Island’) mega Thames Estuary airport designs publicised by promoters, Testrad

November 12, 2013          In the last month before the Airports Commission reveals its interim report, there is a flurry of activity, with airport schemes vying with each other to get media attention – and the attention of Sir Howard Davies. The mega-expensive (and needing huge public funding) scheme calling itself “London Britannia Airport” (aka Boris Island) had got itself plenty of media coverage. Its developers, Testrad, say the cost of £47 billion to develop the airport plus rail links, infrastructure etc, “would be recouped from the real estate value and closure of Heathrow.” There is little new, other than what was reported earlier, in July. The airport claims it would bring huge economic benefits, cover most of the Thames estuary in a development area, allow the area at Heathrow (airport would have to be closed) to become a pleasant London suburb, and there are a list of other claims – including that it “avoids the problems of other land-based airport developments.” It even makes out that it avoids bird strike problems (?). The entire area is part of the Outer Thames Estuary Special Protection Area.       Click here to view full story…

Their previous press release, from October 2012, is at http://www.gensler.com/#aboutus/news/pressreleases/124

 

Boris objects to proposed cap by EU on state aid to airports – his estuary schemes would need minimum £20-30 billion from government

September 26, 2013

London Mayor Boris Johnson said EU proposals barring the use of state aid for the construction of airports serving more than 5 million people a year would undermine plans to grow the UK’s aviation capacity. Government subsidies for large airport projects, currently assessed on a case-by-case basis, would be outlawed starting in early 2014, whether for new infrastructure or upgrades of existing facilities, according to the draft EU guidance. In his letter to the Competition Commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, Boris wrote that there are “unintended and potentially catastrophic consequences” in “tying the hands” of member states, and he said the measures would limit London’s ability to expand vital links to emerging markets in Asia and South America [which, of course, is nonsense]. Boris said the new EU rules would limit London to expanding terminal capacity at existing airports with less ambitious, and more easily financed, plans than his over-ambitious Thames estuary schemes. TfL said in its submission that a new hub as envisaged by Boris requires an estimated £20 – 30 billion pounds of state investment. The EU consultation on state aid to airports and airlines has just ended, and the EU will now start to analyze feedback received.     Click here to view full story…

 

FoI request reveals TfL has spent £1.4 million so far, with a budget of £3 million, on promoting Thames estuary airport (or Stansted)

September 20, 2013     . Figures from Transport for London (TfL) – obtained from a Freedom of Information request – show Boris Johnson has spent £1.4 million promoting the idea of a Thames Estuary airport. Some £1.2 million has gone to paying consultancy fees, for work such as looking at environmental impacts of an airport and the infrastructure that would need to be built. £15,000 was spent on hiring College Public Policy, a consultancy group, to help with TfL’s submission to the Airports Commission. In contrast, Medway Council budgeted £50,000 in 2012 to fight against the airport, although it is not clear how much of this was spent. Boris backs building the airport, which would be the world’s biggest airport, at Grain. This would have 4 runways and operate 24 hours a day. “Boris has been throwing away public money on his flight of fancy and it needs to stop” – Mark Reckless MP. TfL say in May 2011, £200,000 was set aside by TfL to consider the options for expanding the country’s aviation capacity. A further £3 million has been budgeted by TfL up until April 2014, of which there is around £1.7 million remaining.      .Click here to view full story…

 

Foster & Partners submit their Isle of Grain airport scheme and Boris courts Chinese and South Korean backers

July 21, 2013      Sky News says advisers to Boris have held initial talks with wealthy foreign institutions including China Investment Corporation (CIC) and officials in South Korea about the Isle of Grain, Thames Estuary hub airport project. Boris now prefers the Isle of Grain as the location site for an airport, rather than “Boris island”. Other institutional investors including City-based pension funds and infrastructure firms are also understood to have told the Mayor’s advisers that they would consider putting long-term capital into the Isle of Grain scheme, which has been called the Thames Hub Airport. Boris is understood to be determined to identify as much private sector funding as possible for a new airport, whereas his principal aviation adviser, Daniel Moylan, is said to be keener on the idea of government financing. On 19th Foster & Partners submitted the Isle of Grain airport scheme to the Airports Commission. Chinese backers are being courted for a number of new UK projects, including a new ‘super-sewer’ under London.     Click here to view full story…

 

Boris Johnson ditches idea of “Boris Island” airport in favour of Lord Foster Isle of Grain plan

July 14, 2013     There are reports that Boris has ditched his idea of an island airport in the Thames Estuary (“Boris Island”) in favour of a huge hub airport on the Isle of Grain. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Boris said the Grain scheme proposed by Lord Foster would “knock the spots off” rival airports on the continent and make Britain the “global capital of aviation”. He is likely to submit 3 schemes to the Airports Commission by 19th July, for Boris Island, for the Isle of Grain and for Stansted. The Isle of Grain is his preference, with some of the new airport built on reclaimed land. There would be a new rail link to London, transferring passengers from Waterloo in under half an hour. The airport would open in 2029 handling 90 million passengers per year and expanding to 180 million passengers per year by 2050. Access to the new hub airport would be by widening most of the M25, an Airport Express rail link to Waterloo, and Crossrail linking it to Heathrow. The entire project would cost about £65 billion – or more.     Click here to view full story…

 

Think tank, Independent Transport Commission, recommends one hub airport, at Heathrow, Stansted or Thames Estuary

May 29, 2013     A charity land use and transport think tank, the Independent Transport Commission (ITC), have produced a report – to be submitted to the Airports Commission, on airport capacity. The ITC report says one major hub airport is needed, in order to compete with European rival airports. Heathrow cannot be left as it is. They say using two London airports to share the load will not do. They also say that if that hub is not Heathrow, then Heathrow would need to close, in order to give investors confidence that airlines would move their business. Closing Heathrow would have immense implications, with 114,000 people directly and indirectly employed by the airport. Its closure would have impacts on their families and the communities in which they live – but release a huge area of land (some 1,200 acres for profitable re-development….. though a town the size of Peterborough would be needed for the new hub airport. Their report follows a call for evidence last summer. The ITC’s key worry seems to be that “…we are losing that capacity to Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt [and] Schiphol and the airlines will want to use those airports.”      Click here to view full story…

 

Thames Estuary airport ballot extended from Hoo Peninsula to all of Rochester and Strood

May 6, 2013      Rochester & Stroud MP Mark Reckless has organised a ballot for people on the Hoo Peninsula about a Thames Estuary airport. The area to be canvassed has now been extended across the constituency. Another 30,000 papers have been ordered, with getting them distributed by volunteers being a logistic challenge. So far more than 10,000 ballot papers have been delivered, of which around 3,700 have been returned. Mark Reckless says there has been an “overwhelming response” and that 95% of those returning ballot papers have been against an airport. The peninsula has a population of more than 20,000 and includes villages like Cliffe and Grain, which have both been suggested as possible sites for an airport. The ballot has been criticised by the Labour party, who have long campaigned for a referendum across Medway on the issue. This would be held on a specific day, with voters going to polling stations to cast their vote. Unfortunately however, Mark Reckless is keen to see either Gatwick or Stansted airports expanded instead.      Click here to view full story…

 

Will a Thames estuary airport ever get off the ground?

March 27, 2013      With the array of proposals for a Thames Estuary airport now being put to Sir Howard Davies and his Airports Commission, Kent residents worry about the huge environmental damage that any of them would do. Despite the problems with the concept of a massive new hub airport, dependent on tens of billions of pounds of public money, it seems that Boris remains intent on leaving the area with a vanity project – the legacy of which could devastate parts of Kent. Not only are there bird reserves of incomparable importance along the estuary, there are also marine ecology in the estuary. Each of the four current main contenders as an estuary airport would bring their separate problems and devastate different areas. The people of Kent need to pull together on opposing all of the plans, and avoid the temptation of passing the buck on to an unlucky neighbour. The people of Kent can only hope that common sense (and economic sense) will prevail and they will be spared.    Click here to view full story…

 

Cliffe Airport plan being promoted, again, by John Olsen

March 1, 2013     Ten years ago, proposals for a 3 runway, 24-hour, hub airport at Cliffe, on the south bank of the Thames estuary, on the Hoo peninsula, were rejected. It was abandoned in December 2003 on the grounds that the costs of the coastal site were too high and the airport would not be well used. But this scheme, put forward by John Olsen with what he calls his “Independent Aviation Advisory Group” seems unwilling to go away. He was pushing it again back in 2011, and has again given evidence to the Transport Select committee recently, promoting it. Mr Olsen was the commercial director of Cathay Pacific and ex-head of the failed airline Dan-Air, and wants an airport based on the one in Hong Kong. He wants the Airports Commission to look again at his Cliffe proposals, with claims about the Thames Gateway regeneration project, and the creation of thousands of jobs to deprived areas in north Kent and south Essex. He says the Cliffe project would prevent “malnourished and ill-educated children growing up”     Click here to view full story…

 

Ballot for all residents on the Hoo Peninsula to gauge opinion on Thames estuary airport

February 28, 2013     More than 20,000 people who would be affected by the building of a Thames Estuary airport in north Kent are being asked for their opinion on the proposals. Volunteers for Rochester and Strood MP Mark Reckless are delivering ballot papers to 6,000 homes on the Hoo Peninsula. Mark Reckless said “This is a chance for people across the Hoo Peninsula to have their voices heard and help me get the Davies Commission to rule out an estuary airport once and for all.” Residents will be able to choose a “yes” or “no” answer and return it to the MP. The ballots will be collected and presented in one of three ways: as a petition in Parliament, to the Commission or to Boris Johnson, who supports the idea. Meanwhile John Olsen has been pushing his plan for a Cliffe airport again, ten years after it was rejected last time.   Click here to view full story…

 

Patrick McLoughlin says taxpayer will not pay £30 billion for a new hub airport

February 12, 2013    Speaking at the Commons Transport Select Committee on 11th February, the Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin said that the estimates for a new hub airport for the UK were up to £80 million. A report by Oxera reported recently that a new 4-runway hub airport could need up to £30bn of public subsidy, mainly to cover road and rail links. Mr McLoughlin called these “very substantial figures” and said “We do not generally subsidise airports . . . I am not looking for ways of spending extra money on something provided by the private sector”. Airports in the past have had public subsidies, through road building paid for by the public purse, that benefits the airport. He highlighted how much of the UK’s aviation infrastructure was privately funded. Boris gave evidence, at the same session, promoting his view that there was a need for a new hub, other than Heathrow, and this should be at one of two sites in the Thames Estuary, or at Stansted.    Click here to view full story…

 

Boris targets Arab states in bid to raise £80bn for a new airport

February 11, 2013     Boris Johnson plans to take a week-long tour of the Gulf states in mid-April, to drum up financial backing for his plans for a new international airport. He intends to visit Dubai, Qatar and Kuwait to raise up to £80 billion. He still wants a Thames estuary mega-hub airport, but his senior aides consider expansion of Stansted a more realistic option. Boris says a new hub airport, wherever it is, could be delivered with private finance and operated as a viable commercial business. His £80 million estimate covers the cost of terminals, runways, ancillary facilities and rail and road access. He was inspired by Hyderabad’s “aerotropolis”,30% funded by money from Gulf states. Mr Johnson also announced a team of experts including British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, designer of the Olympic aquatics centre,to draw up plans for a hub east of London. Other advisers include Pascall+Watson, which designed Heathrow Terminal 5 and the redevelopment of St Pancras station, and Atkins, which worked on the Olympics.    Click here to view full story…

Boris Island airport site ‘could blow up at any minute’ – proximity of wreck of SS Montgomery

27.1.2013  As the Mayor of London pushes forward with plans for an airport in the Thames Estuary, The Telegraph discovers an explosive obstacle: the site is also the resting place of a World War II ship carrying hundreds of tons of unexploded bombs.  Short video clip explaining the problem with the sunken wreck of the SS Montgomery, containing some 14,000 of old, corroded and unstable explosives, close to site of Foster’s Folly airport.  At best it could cause serious explosions and damage; could even cause a tsunami that would spread throughout the Thames estuary.  No easy solution.  Not possible to contemplate a huge airport beside it, with danger to construction staff, not to mention risk to passengers.  Click here to view full story …..

 

New research suggests a hub airport (eg. Thames estuary) for London cannot be built without public subsidy

January 25, 2013     A report by the economic consultants, Oxera, commissioned by the Commons Transport Committee has shown that a massive hub airport in the Thames estuary would only be viable if it had a subsidy, from UK taxpayers, of some £10 – 30 billion (in today’s money). Oxera looked at various scenarios, and found that otherwise such an airport would not be viable or provide the sorts of returns that a private investor would require. Depending on the airport’s design, it could cost £20 – £50 billion. The potential impact on Heathrow and other airports – and necessary compensation – were had to be taken into account, and would have an impact on a new hub airport’s commercial viability. Transport committee inquiry chairman Louise Ellman said: “The results suggest a new airport would require public investment and have considerable impact on Heathrow and other London airports. The research findings also shed significant light on the scale of investment required to deliver essential related surface transport links for any new airport. “We hope this work delivers something new to a crucial debate.”    Click here to view full story…

 

Architects, Grimshaw, with complicated London Hub City proposal, for future airport capacity. Bit of an unrealistic muddle.

January 25, 2013    Grimshaw, a firm of architects that have offices in London, have put forward their own idea for what should happen about airport capacity in the south east. Their idea is to focus on London, the city, as the hub rather than any one airport. They want to have a 3rd runway at Heathrow, so it can deal with problems like snow, and then link London from Stansted, Gatwick, Luton and an airport in the Thames estuary, by high speed rail to London No one airport would be the main hub. They rather unrealistically anticipate that many transit passengers would want to break their journey at Heathrow, then travel into London on a special ticket on fast rail, to do a bit of tourism and spending, before getting their return flight. This scheme needs to have very efficient immigration and baggage transfer facilities to avoid being a nightmare. The report questions whether the view of the airlines, on the need for a hub airport, should dominate the planning of capacity for London. It also says that: “It is extremely difficult to predict what will happen to aviation beyond the next few years. Recent decades have demonstrated this” And it cites Stansted’s decline. However, they say “Looking ahead, we might confidently predict growth in aviation”.   Click here to view full story…

 

Another one! Fourth 4-runway Thames estuary hub airport proposal unveiled – Goodwin Sands off Deal

December 19, 2012   “Goodwin Airport”
Plans to build a 24-hour £39bn hub airport on large sandbanks off the Kent coast have been unveiled. Engineering firm Beckett Rankine wants to construct a four-runway airport on reclaimed land at Goodwin Sands near Deal. Director Tim Beckett said it was the “most sustainable solution” to aviation expansion in the South East and would have the “least adverse impact”. The Goodwin Sands are a series of shifting sandbanks, owned by the Crown Estate, 11 miles long and six miles wide, that are also the site of historic shipwrecks. Beckett Rankine said the location does not have the environmental and logistical issues that came with proposals for an airport in the Thames Estuary. It said the site would be linked to London by the existing HS1 high-speed rail line, the A2 and M20 and to Europe via the Eurostar service. It is not far from Manston, which cannot function properly due to being in the wrong place. Just too far east. This 4th scheme joins the Foster scheme (Hoo Peninsula); the Gensler schems (floating somewhere in the middle); and the Boris Island scheme (off Whitstable).   Click here to view full story…

The Goodwin Airport has its own website at  Goodwin Airport

 

December 2003: 9 years ago plans for Cliffe airport were turned down by Government

December 15, 2012    Nine years ago this weekend, the strength of people power was proved when north Kent campaigners made the then-Government see that a hub airport could never operate in the Thames Estuary. Now the threat is back again. Back in 2002, a new airport at Cliffe was one of several being considered by the Labour Government. On December 16, 2003, after a long-running, passionate campaign by people in north Kent, then-transport secretary Alistair Darling chose to leave the plan out of the Government’s airport expansion proposals. Reasons included the £11.5 billion cost, the risk of environmental damage and, notably, the danger of aircraft colliding with birds. A report by the Central Science Laboratory warned at the time that 200,000 wildfowl and wading birds over winter in the Thames Estuary – plus thousands in migration – should make the area off limits for such a large scale development.    Click here to view full story…

 

Thames Estuary airport could mean planes taking off over Central London, NATS tells Transport Select Committee

December 10, 2012    TSpeaking at an evidence session of the Commons Transport Select Committee, on Aviation Strategy, Simon Hocquard, Operational Strategy & Deployment Director, NATS, said that as the prevailing wind in the south east of England is from the west, for some 75% of the time planes taking off from an estuary airport would fly, heavy and relatively low, over London. They could be persuaded to fly around London, to avoid subjecting London residents to the noise, but this would increase cost to the airlines, fuel burn and carbon emissions. He also said that a 4 runway estuary airport would have difficulty working in conjunction with other existing south east airports, but the actual problems, noise etc had not yet been modelled, and NATS had not yet been asked to model these issue. The Committee also heard from Richard Deakin about the possibilities of aircraft approaching airports at a 5.5 degree angle, till some 5 – 6 miles or so from the airport, and then reverting to the usual 3 degrees descent. This would limit noise for those further from the airport, but not for those living under the final miles of approach.   Click here to view full story…

 

Monbiot on the threats of “biodiversity offsetting” as an excuse for ruining biodiversity habitats

December 8, 2012    George Monbiot writes about the dangerous new concept the government has seeded in the minds of developers and planners. The idea is called biodiversity offsetting, which involves trading places: allowing people to destroy wildlife and habitats if, in return, they pay someone to create new habitats elsewhere. In April, the UK government launched 6 pilot projects to test the idea, which would run for 2 years. Initially the government said these offsets should be used only to compensate for ‘genuinely unavoidable damage’ and they ‘must not become a licence to destroy. However once the principle is established and the market is functioning, that is likely to change. Now biodiversity offsetting is being mooted as the means by which destruction of sites of great biodiversity value can be justified. The building of an airport in the Thames estuary would be the sort of project that this offsetting might allow, if it is permitted to continue. Monbiot cites a current case in north Kent where habitat for nightingales would become housing. Finding suitable habitat, which the wildlife finds suitable, is not easy and the success of such projects is very dubious.    Click here to view full story…

 

Boris now wants not only a Thames estuary airport but a massive aerotropolis = airport city

Date added: November 29, 2012  [Boris getting over excited on India trip]

Boris Johnson – during his trip to India to promote London – set out his vision to build an “aerotropolis” around a new terminal for his fantasy project of a Thames Estuary airport. He said a town of about 20,000 people could spring up to the east of London based around a 4-runway hub airport (it was 5 runways last week…). It would have four or five “anchor” developments such as a hospital, university campus, a major business or exhibition centre to create thousands of jobs. A social infrastructure including homes, schools, shops, parks and a transport network would be a key part of the plan. Any such scheme would have truly dreadful environmental and biodiversity impacts. The Mayor said London had “much to learn” from India on the future of airports. He added that he was “inspired” by his visit to Hyderabad’s two runway airport — a leading example of an “aerotropolis” that is set to double in size over the next five years (that is because India is only starting to develop its aviation, while we did so decades ago, and it has a massively larger population). Click here to view full story…

 

Boris Island airport details – off Whitstable. 5 runways, maybe 6. With potentially 3 landings and 3 takeoffs every 90 seconds

November 26, 2012     The Sunday Times reports that Boris has met Sir Howard Davies, to push his opposition to Heathrow expansion (and probably his idea of a massive Thames Estuary airport). This would be built in the sea, just off the coast of Whitstable and Herne bay, and have five runways – with the potential for a sixth. This airport could handle 150m-160m passengers a year – more than double the current size of Heathrow. They claim this airport could be built in 7 – 8 years, and it “would be able to handle 3 flights landing and 3 taking off simultaneously, growing to 4 each way if it is expanded to 6 runways. This would enable it to accommodate about 240 flights an hour.” (Has NATS been consulted??) The airport terminal would be at Ebbsfleet near Gravesend with tunnels for high speed rail links under the Thames (or perhaps overground) to the airport. The plans by Bridget Rosewell’s would cost an estimated £49bn, falling to £39.5bn if the railway goes partially overland. Appears to be just south of the 175+ wind turbine London Array.    Click here to view full story…

 

Heathrow to demand £18bn compensation if a new hub is built

November 11, 2012    “This is Money” reports that Heathrow would demand compensation of between £11 billion and £18 billion if it was forced to close because a new hub airport was built elsewhere.They say executive sources said it would seek to recoup the net asset value of Heathrow, plus a premium for compulsory closure. Heathrow is 40% owned by the Chinese, Qatari and Singaporean governments and 34% by Ferrovial. BA would also expect compensation for the investment it has put into the airport, it is believed. Willie Walsh has said BA would move to an alternative site only if Heathrow were closed. The prospect of huge compensation bills on top of the £80 billion needed to build a new four-runway hub airport in the Thames estuary would make the cost prohibitive. BA and other airlines have insisted that they would stay at Heathrow if they had a choice. They also say linking Heathrow to either Gatwick or Stansted would not work. And love the 4 runway idea.  Click here to view full story…

 

Medway Council submits evidence against a Thames Estuary airport

November 2, 2012    Medway council have said an airport in the Thames Estuary is unnecessary, too costly, in the wrong location and damaging to the environment. They have submitted their evidence to the Government’s transport select committee which set up its own examination into aviation in September. Chair of the transport committee Louise Ellman MP said the strategy for aviation should not be delayed , invited the public and interested groups to submit their views to the transport committee and said this feedback would help influence the Government during the policy development process. Medway Council, supported by Swale Borough Council, have submitted a report – by Robin Cooper – expressing its opposition to a Thames Estuary airport with evidence supporting its views. They say it is not sensible, because it will not be built in a sensible timeframe, it will have a disastrous environmental impact, it would require significant taxpayer subsidy and it will not attract airlines.    Click here to view full story…

 

Boris island’ is an unfundable white elephant, says boss of Dubai airport

October 13, 2012

Paul Griffiths, the British boss of Dubai airport, one of the world’s fastest growing airports in the world, says Boris’s proposal for an £80 billion, 4-runway hub in the Thames Estuary is “unfundable” and a potential white elephant. (He wants a Heathrow 3rd runway instead, of course). Of the Thames airport plan, he said it requires all the expense of investing in the project without the productivity arising from it, and at the same time you are forcing other airports in the London system to stop growing. Fundamentally, he said, the location of the estuary is wrong, and though transport links to it would be hugely expensive, the airport would not be used. “Many cities have built large airports out of town and as a result have constructed white elephants because they are not successful. Montreal is a very good example.”He will say more at an AOA conference on October 22-23. Click here to view full story…

 

New report says UK airport emissions today cause about 110 early deaths per year, of which 50 are due to Heathrow. (Also says there would be fewer from a Thames Estuary airport)

October 12, 2012    Premature deaths from Heathrow pollution would treble by 2030 if a third runway is built, according to an academic study to be published next week. The study says that even if Heathrow does not expand, increased numbers of flights will lead to a more than doubling in the number of deaths from pollution. The research is the first to analyse the health consequences of aircraft fumes at the 20 major airports of Britain. It reveals there would be major health benefits if Heathrow operations were replaced with a new hub in the Thames estuary. This is because Heathrow is located in a busy population centre, and also as the prevailing wind in London is westerly, the pollution is blown over millions of people. The research says that, based on 2005 data, UK airports contribute to 110 early deaths each year, mostly due to lung cancer and cardiopulmonary complaints. Of those, 50 can be attributed to Heathrow alone. With a 50% growth in air travel, there would be 250 early deaths in the UK. And that is not including road vehicle pollution, just that from planes.   Click here to view full story…

 

Boris Johnson: Estuary airport to cost taxpayer £30 billion for the road and rail links alone

October 4, 2012    It has emerged that the cost of road and rail links from his proposed Thames Estuary airport to London would be around £30 billion, over 15 years, and that would have to be paid by UK taxpayers. He believes a new estuary airport would cost at least another £50 billion, and that could be financed entirely by the private sector. Boris gave a speech at County Hall, to business leaders, Boris attacked the so-called “dither and delay” over formulating its aviation policy, and warned that future generations “would believe the Coalition had ‘frittered away their futures’ by delaying a decision until after the 2015 election. Mr Johnson’s team denied that today’s remarks were intended to steal Mr Cameron’s thunder at the Conservative party conference.However, his airport comments appear to be linked with his positioning himself within the Conservative party. He is also keen on expanding Stansted, as another alternative.    Click here to view full story…

 

Floating runways scheme proposed for a Thames estuary airport – by Gensler

September 12, 2012     Another week. Another dotty airport scheme announced by the Standard. It reports that there are new plans for a floating airport in the Thames Estuary by a “major global architecture firm,” Gensler (from USA). Calling itself London Britannia Airport, it includes 4 floating runways tethered to the sea bed. Gensier says these could be floated in as required – allowing for future expansion to accommodate 6 runways, with several terminals on land, one in east London between Canary Wharf and the Olympic Park, and there would be high speed rail links. The Standard says Gensler have built airports elsewhere in the world, but it appears it is only now in the process of building terminals at Seoul and Denver airports. Mr Mulcahey from Gensler said: “It absolutely could be done. It’s all fairly standard technology and marine engineering is what we’re good at in Britain.” Heathrow would become an eco-city.   Click here to view full story…

 

Why I’m backing Boris Island, by Windsor MP Adam Afriyie

Windsor MP Adam Afriyie explains why a coastal airport is the only option for the future of aviation in the south-east.  (Telegraph)  Click here to view full story …

 

Boris to hold rival inquiry on Thames estuary airport or expanding other airports, excluding Heathrow

September 10, 2012    Boris Johnson plans to hold a rival inquiry into the future of aviation capacity which will specifically exclude a 3rd runway at Heathrow. The Aviation Commission on aviation capacity, to be chaired by Sir Howard Davies, announced last week, will include Heathrow. Boris’s “call for evidence” will hear from airlines, airport operators, local authorities and aviation experts, on his proposal for a new airport in the Thames estuary or expansion on alternative sites around the capital. The inquiry will last between 9 and 12 months – reporting two years earlier than the Davies Commission. The findings of the Boris inquiry will be presented to the Davies Commission, and Boris has reluctantly decided to cooperate with because of the “realities” of the situation. Windsor MP, Adam Afriyie, is backing Boris in favouring an estuary airport.    Click here to view full story…

 

New hub airport west of Heathrow “wins support of UK business” – Independent

September 9, 2012   Independent reports that British business is starting to get behind nebulous plans for a £60bn four-runway airport near Heathrow. It says a “world-leading infrastructure firm”, which has worked on aviation projects in Latin and North America, is assessing sites for the scheme to the west and north-west of the airport. Potentially backed by Chinese sovereign wealth fund money, a secretive consortium of UK businesses plans to throw their scheme into the mix as a potential long-term successor to Heathrow. Potential sites, which must be flat with few nearby residential areas, are thought to have been identified along the potential High Speed Two rail line, which would link London and Birmingham, and the Great Western main line, so the airport would be within 30 minutes of London.    Click here to view full story…

 

Government announced the creation of independent Aviation Connectivity Commission – the call for evidence on airport capacity, due shortly, has been cancelled

September 7, 2012    The DfT has now announced that it has asked Sir Howard Davies to chair an independent Commission tasked with identifying and recommending to Government options for maintaining this country’s status as an international hub for aviation. It says the Commission will examine the scale and timing of any requirement for additional capacity to maintain the UK’s position as Europe’s most important aviation hub; and identify and evaluate how any need for additional capacity should be met in the short, medium and long term. In doing so, the Commission, will provide an interim report to the Government no later than the end of 2013 setting out its assessment of the evidence on the nature, scale and timing of the steps needed to maintain the UK’s global hub status; and its recommendation(s) for immediate actions to improve the use of existing runway capacity in the next five years – consistent with credible long term options. The Commission will then publish by the summer of 2015 a final report, for consideration by the Government and Opposition Parties. A decision on whether to support any of the recommendations contained in the final report will be taken by the next Government.   Click here to view full story…

 

Can the UK fly more without breaking climate change targets?

September 7, 2012     The aviation industry is bullish about its prospects of decoupling growth in aviation from the growth in emissions. At least Boeing and BAA are, and a host of airlines and airports that are part of the “Sustainable Aviation Council”. The SAC’s 2012 roadmap argues that virtually all of the extra GHG that would be emitted by this rise can be cut by a combination of sleeker aircraft, leaner engines, smoother ground operations, more direct flight paths and up to 40% use of biofuels in global aviation. It also suggests that the use of carbon trading would mean aviation’s current carbon footprint could be halved even if passenger numbers more than doubled. But aircraft emissions cannot be airbrushed away through carbon trading, as Tim Yeo and others suggest. Given a new dash for gas in the UK, new road building and then more aviation, where are the CO2 cuts needed for permits to trade actually going to come from? Damian Carrington explores the issues.  Click here to view full story…

 

Boris Johnson’s Heathrow warning after Justine Greening’s move

September 4, 2012   The Mayor of London says the reshuffle shows the government wants to “ditch its promises and send yet more planes over central London”. He said, of the removal of Justine Greening, that “There can be only one reason to move her – and that is to expand Heathrow” and that the idea was “mad” and he would fight it all the way. Boris said “The third runway would mean more traffic, more noise, more pollution – and a serious reduction in the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of people. We will fight this all the way. Even if a third runway was built, it would not do the job of meeting Britain’s needs.” But he continued saying London needs a 4 runway airport, “preferably to the east of London” – ie. Thames Estuary. Boris said: “And it is time for the government to level with Londoners. Are they in favour of a third runway at Heathrow or not?”   Click here to view full story…

Foster’s estuary airport plan funding depends largely on Heathrow landing charges, and closing Heathrow

July 9, 2012

The FT writes that, needing some £50 million (or more) Lord Foster and his team have devised a funding model they claim would avoid any significant increase in the landing charges currently paid by airlines at Heathrow – which the airlines are deeply against. However, this funding model would hinge on the support of the government and regulators, plus the co-operation of Ferrovial/BAA. Foster thinks £33 billion is needed for the airport, and they could get £10 billion from closing and redeveloping Heathrow. Then they could get £4bn from the development of land around the new estuary airport for facilities needed to support it. And £8bn from the landing charges levied on airlines using Heathrow between 2018 and 2028. A further £11bn would be raised through landing charges levied at the new airport during the decade after its opening, which is earmarked for 2028. Most of the money would come from Heathrow landing charges, and this problem could be overcome by giving the Ferrovial-led consortium the opportunity to take a controlling equity stake in the estuary airport.    Click here to view full story…

 

Report on the Evening Standard’s Great Heathrow Debate

June 28, 2012    The debate hosted by the Evening Standard took place last night in London had an unbalanced panel, with four speakers broadly in favour of expansion, and only one against. The speakers were Alain de Botton, Willy Walsh, CBI chief policy director Katja Hall, the Mayor’s adviser Daniel Moylan with the lone “anti-expansion” voice of the panel, Tamsin Omond leading member of Climate Rush, among other things. The debate was a missed opportunity for a high level debate, not having sufficient speakers from the opposition, but it was of a higher quality than expected. Willie Walsh confirmed that he is not expecting a third runway at Heathrow, and is not planning for it. He also agreed that the presence of a new runway would not determine whether business is attracted to London. No convincing arguments on the economics of a hub airport, or of a new runway, were put forward.    Click here to view full story..

 

Thames Estuary Airport not the answer says South East LEP

June 22, 2012     A hub airport in the Thames Estuary is not a solution to the South East’s airport capacity problems in the foreseeable future – according to an independent report received by the South East Local Enterprise Partnership. They say that expanding use of other airports serving the South East (including Stansted, Southend and Manston) could address short term business needs, and also increasing use of Heathrow, Gatwick and London City (which would not be acceptable to local residents there). The LEP report says that due to the effect it would have on Heathrow, a Thames estuary airport is not a feasible solution.    Click here to view full story…

 

Drop Thames Estuary airport plans, says London Assembly

June 22, 2012     Members of the London Assembly have urged mayor Boris Johnson to stop promoting a new airport in the Thames estuary, branding the scheme a ‘vanity project’. The assembly has passed a motion – proposed by Murad Qureshi – calling for the mayor to abandon proposals which they warned would have a devastating effect on the west London economy if Heathrow is forced to close, with up to 100,000 jobs on the line. The motion also warned that the project would create “huge environmental damage to a protected area” used by migrating birds as well as increase noise, congestion and pollution. It says the mayor’s plans as “simplistic and ill-considered” and called on him to “abandon this vanity project”.     Click here to view full story…

 

Vince Cable backs Birmingham, while Boris pushes for Stansted expansion (and the estuary)

June 19, 2012     The campaign to expand Birmingham Airport has gained a new ally – Business Secretary, Vince Cable. The airport recently launched a new London publicity campaign to persuade the Government to throw its support behind Birmingham at the expense of a third runway at Heathrow. Vince Cable said there was no resistance from residents to this expansion to Birmingham building up to being a “really serious international airport”, and this would be a “short-term, pragmatic solution that would bring an awful lot more flights to the country” while extra runway capacity at an airport in the South East could take years to deliver. So Boris has been suggesting a 2nd Stansted runway (opposed even by the aviation industry) and Vince is backing Birmingham, as interim “solutions” to an alleged problem of capacity.    Click here to view full story…

 

Charles Dickens’ grandson on how estuary airport would ruin area made famous by Great Expectations

June 9, 2012    Charles Dickens’ great-great-grandson has spoken out against plans for an estuary airport, which would ruin the marshlands and countryside made famous his ancestor. This area provided the setting for Great Expectations – one of Dickens’ greatest novels. He is horrified by the plans to build on the marshland, bordering the area of Kent where Dickens lived and died. This year is the bicentenary of Dickens’ birth, with a festival all weekend in celebration in north Kent of his life and work. In the opening scene of Great Expectations, Dickens describes the marshes as a “dark, flat, wilderness… intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it”. Dickens loved this part of Kent, he lived and died in Higham, he took his honeymoon in Chalk and he often walked across the Marshes for inspiration.   Click here to view full story…

 

Timebomb ticking in Thames Estuary could put Boris Island plans in jeopardy

May 30, 2012     Perhaps as part of the Standard’s crusade to push for a 3rd Heathrow runway, they have written about the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery, just off shipping lanes and close to the coast of the Isle of Grain in the Thames Estuary. This is full of 7,000 tonnes of wartime, unexploded, explosives (over 2,000 cases of cluster fragmentation bombs, nearly 600 500lb armour piercing bombs and at least 1,000 additional 1,000lb bombs). The ship would have to be removed or neutralised (how?) if a massive airport was to be built. The ship is nicknamed the £1 billion time bomb based of the amount of damage it could cause in the event of an explosion. It is estimated that a blast could trigger a tidal wave up to four feet high, destroying some coastal communities.    Click here to view full story…

 

Boris: dead against 3rd Heathrow runway, but wants runway at Stansted or Gatwick reconsidered (while waiting for the estuary airport)

May 29, 2012     Interviewed by Allegra Stratton, of BBC’s Newsnight, Boris Johnson said London should follow Hong Kong’s example and build a new airport. And quickly. Boris Johnson has accused the government of trying to kick a decision about a new airport into “the long grass” until past the next election, and that this was down to the coalition leadership trying to “appease their ideological environmental wing” of both parties. Boris said his colleagues in central government appear to be “tip-toeing back towards the electrified fence of the third runway,” and says that if they go ahead they will get “the most powerful shock”. He opposes a 3rd Heathrow runway, but urges the government to discard the coalition agreement and consider expanding at Stansted or Gatwick as an interim solution ahead of any new airport built in the South East.   Click here to view full story…

Mark Reckless MP to talk to Cameron on environmental devastation of an estuary airport

May 24, 2012     David Cameron has finally agreed to face-to-face talks with MP Mark Reckless (Rochester and Strood) on the concept of a Thames estuary airport. It has taken 4 months for him to get this meeting. Mr Reckless said he would tell the PM an airport would bring “environmental devastation” and that the economics of it don’t stack up because of the cost. This is a view echoed by wildlife groups and Medway Council – an area which would bear the brunt of the effects of the massive project.    Click here to view full story…

 

Kent County Council argues strongly against Thames Estuary airport – but in favour of absolutely all other airport expansion

In a very odd (slightly bonkers) report, entitled Bold Steps for Aviation, Kent County Council has come out very strongly against Boris Island or any other Thames airport. But it wants massive expansion at Manston, massive expansion at Gatwick with a 2nd runway, the utterly discredited Heathwick rail line that Gatwick airport itself has rejected, and even another runway at Heathrow.  And expansion at Lydd, and even at Southend.  The report does not appear to have been written by anyone very expert in the field of aviation. It is unfortunate  that the report is so very gung-ho about ruining the lives of everyone else near airports, while it is enlighted in relation to the estuary.  Click here to view full story …..

 

Airport protesters target London Mayor Boris Johnson over his estuary plans

May 11, 2012     Campaigners fighting plans to build an airport off the Kent coast staged a protest outside City Hall, as a quick response to Boris Johnson’s restatement of his ambition – a week after his re-election as Mayor of London – to build a new airport in the Thames estuary. Speakers at the protest included Jenny Jones, Murad Qureshi, and Caroline Pigeon as well as representatives from the North Kent areas currently blighted by the airport plans. The protest outside the mayor’s offices came as Kent County Council (KCC) published its own vision of aviation. – not surprisingly hostile to the estuary plans (but in favour of absolutely everything else …) London’s mayor declined an interview with BBC South East, but Daniel Moylan, deputy chairman of Transport for London, said the estuary airport was close to Mr Johnson’s heart.    Click here to view full story…

Protest at City Hall

Boris reaffirms his enthusiasm for an estuary airport, and sees it as a “moment for greatness”

May 11, 2012     Having got back into power, Boris has already stated that he will use his second term of office to push his estuary airport scheme. Urging the government to give the scheme its backing, he repeated his belief that the hub airport – dubbed Boris Island – had the potential to place London as the “economic powerhouse of Europe.” Boris wants a four-runway airport, which would be the biggest in the world, to be built in the Thames Estuary. He said: “The Government has got to seize the nettle. This is a moment for greatness. It is a moment for bravery” and “My gut feeling is that you could entrench London’s position as the economic powerhouse of Europe. You would solve all sorts of problems in transport infrastructure and regeneration if you went for a big, bold solution of the kind that Norman Foster was outlining.” There was a protest against the estuary airport plans outside City Hall.    Click here to view full story…

 

Politicians from both sides of the Thames estuary deride estuary airport plans

5 May 2012       MP’s from both sides of the Thames estuary have expressed their opposition to the threat of an airport being built just offshore.  Conservative MPs Mark Reckless (Rochester and Strood, Kent) and David Amess (Southend West, Essex) hosted a reception at Westminster where they stepped-up their efforts to protect nature and the estuary’s communities and businesses from unsustainable development.   Speaking in Parliament, they and their Conservative colleagues voiced doubts that the proposals will ever move beyond the drawing board stage. The audience unanimously agreed the plans were abhorrent, ill-thought out and devised by engineers who know little to nothing about the area.     http://www.birdwatch.co.uk/channel/newsitem.asp?cate=__12115&c=11

Traffic pollution kills 5,000 a year in UK, and aviation pollution kills another 2,000, says MIT study

April 18, 2012     A study by MIT in Massachusetts has found that combustion exhausts across the UK cause nearly 5,000 premature deaths each year. They also estimate that exhaust gases from aeroplanes cause a further 2,000 deaths annually, compared to 1,850 deaths due to road accidents. In total, about 19,000 deaths per year in the UK are caused by air pollution of all sorts – of which 7,000 are due to pollutants blown in from the continent. The findings challenge the traditional view that industrial plants are the main source of pollution, because traffic pollution occurs much nearer to people’s homes than industrial emissions. One of the authors, Steven Barrett hopes soon to conclude a detailed assessment of the health impacts of either a 3rd runway at Heathrow or a Thames Estuary Airport.     Click here to view full story…

 

Proposed Thames Hub airport in ‘very worst spot’ say air traffic controllers, NATS

April 13, 2012     Thames estuary would be in the “very worst spot” for the south-east’s crowded airspace, according to the boss of Britain’s air traffic control service, Nats. Richard Deakin, chief executive of Nats, said the architects of the Thames Hub airport had not contacted them beforehand to discuss its feasibility. Norman Foster and partners unveiled the blueprints of the £50bn project last November. Deakin said the proposed site for the new airport, on the Isle of Grain, was directly under the convergence of major arrival and departure flight paths for four of London’s five airports. He added: “We’re a little surprised that none of the architects thought it worthwhile to have a little chat” with the air traffic controllers. The proximity of Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport would also affect traffic patterns and force aircraft into more circuitous flight paths.     Click here to view full story…

 

Thames estuary airport fears as full National Planning Policy Framework to be published next week,

March 22, 2012   In his Budget, George Osborne said: ”Next week my right hon. Friend the Communities Secretary and the Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark), the Minister with responsibility for planning, will publish the results of our overhaul of planning regulation. We are replacing 1,000 pages of guidance with just 50 pages. We are introducing a presumption in favour of sustainable development, while protecting our most precious environments. The new policy comes into effect when the national planning policy framework is published next Tuesday. This is the biggest reduction in business red tape ever undertaken.” This does not bode well for the Thames estuary.  Click here to view full story…

 

Budget: Osborne delays launch of government aviation consultation to “summer”

March 21, 2012 In his Budget speech, George Osborne said: “I also believe this country must confront the lack of airport capacity in the South East of England – we cannot cut ourselves off from the fastest growing cities in the world. The Transport Secretary will set out Government thinking later this summer.” The aviation consultation that had been intended to start sometime between the Budget and the end of March appears now to have been postponed, to an unspecified date – probably some time after May. This appears to have taken the DfT themselves by surprise. It is speculated that the reason has been disagreement between George Osborne and the Lib Dems, on the desirability of future aviation expansion. Click here to view full story…

 

David Cameron says Britain needs bigger airport for London

March 19, 2012   Mr Cameron’s comments came in a speech in London shortly after a meeting of the so-called Quad of senior Tory and Liberal Democrat ministers to put the final touches to Wednesday’s Budget. He said:”I’m not blind to the need to increase airport capacity, particularly in the south-east.” “We need to retain our status as a key global hub for air travel, not just a feeder route to bigger airports elsewhere, in Frankfurt, Amsterdam or Dubai.” Gatwick is emerging as a business airport for London, under a new owner competing with Heathrow.”  “Yes, this will be controversial. We will need to take decisions for the long-term – and we will be bringing forward options in our aviation strategy which will include an examination of the pros and cons of a new airport in the Thames estuary.” “The aviation paper that we will be producing will look at a range of options and possibilities, scope the whole issue but also look at what the estuary options are – obviously there is more than one.”   Click here to view full story…

 

Germaine Greer: Your airport idea doesn’t fly, Boris Johnson

March 10, 2012    Germaine Greer, writing about the threat of a Thames Estuary airport says “concerns about the environmental impact of airports are always expressed in terms of the health of the human population. There is no concern for the health of the planet, though this will be the same thing in the end. It is perhaps the bitterest irony that a new airport for London may become a necessity because Heathrow has become too big and too dirty to use without incurring massive fines for excessive pollution. …. The environmental consequences [of an airport offshore] may be less obvious to humans, but for a vast range of other earthlings, they are certain to be catastrophic. Once the toxic fallout from jet engines has entered and accumulated in the food chain, the Thames may become once more what it was less than 100 years ago, a poisonous sluice.”  Click here to view full story…

Greater Thames Marshes becomes a Defra Nature Improvement Area

March 6, 2012    At the end of February DEFRA announced the formation of 12 new Nature Improvement Areas (NIAs) across the country. NIA is the new name for Nature Restoration Zones proposed by the Making Space for Nature Review. This aims to achieve a coherent and robust ecological network that would be capable of responding to the challenges of climate change and other pressures. One of the 21 NIAs is the Greater Thames Marshes NIA, and its area covers almost all of the estuary, on the north and south banks, including all the areas where a Thames estuary airport might be located. Each NIA will get money from government to create wildlife havens, restore habitats and encourage local people to get involved with nature. Maria Eagle yesterday went to visit the area.    Click here to view full story…

 

Shadow minister Maria Eagle ‘dubious’ about Thames Estuary airport plans

March 6, 2012     The shadow transport secretary, Maria Eagle, said she is “very dubious” about the idea of building an airport in the Thames Estuary. Speaking on a visit to Medway, she claimed the idea was a “distraction” from addressing the need for something to do be done about aviation capacity in the short term. She made the comments during a visit to the Isle of Grain, which would cease to exist under Foster’s airport plan. The Kent Messenger group thinks the government consultation on future aviation policy could be announced on Tuesday, March 13. Maria Eagle repeated her calls for a cross-party consensus on the issue, which she feels is important and is waiting for talks on this with Justine Greening. She agrees a new Heathrow runway is not a practical reality.    Click here to view full story…

 

Even if people prefer a 3rd runway to Boris Island, it doesn’t mean they like either.  John Stewart.

February 29, 2012     An ICM poll commissioned by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, on attitudes to a third Heathrow runway, or an estuary airport, says that a 3rd runway was favoured by 25% of respondents, with 21% backing the new airport. When asked if they believed the Government was right to block Heathrow’s 3rd runway, 35% agreed while 32% thought it was the wrong decision. And it says “The Government needs to urgently rethink its decision to rule out any potential expansion at Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted, which all offer more sensible and cost-effective alternatives”. John Stewart writes that this poll is yet another attempt to avoid the real debate about whether any further airport capacity is required in the South East. It is part of a coordinated series of publications by the aviation industry and its allies intended to influence the government’s draft aviation policy due to go out to public consultation at the end of this month.    Click here to view full story…

 

Despite Heathrow’s huge business connectivity, BAA trots out its capacity arguments again citing need for flights to China

February 14, 2012     BAA continues to use any opportunity it can to push its ambition to expand Heathrow. It has used the January traffic figures as another chance to lobby for its 3rd runway and trot out its capacity argument. Passengers from Heathrow to China, including Hong Kong, rose by 3% in 2011, but happened to fall by 0.7% in January, compared to Jan 2010. BAA could not confirm whether other airports suffered a similar dip in January traffic. BAA imply, but there are no publicly available figures to check, that traffic to China from Frankfurt and Amsterdam rose in January. Germany exported £27 billion to China in 2010 and the UK exported £5 billion. Research carried out by WWF and AirportWatch in August looking at weekly flights (July 2011) showed Frankfurt had 43 flights to China, Paris Charles de Gaulle had 81 flights, Schiphol had 40 ….. and Heathrow had a whopping 94. It’s not really falling behind, in any meaningful sense of the word.     Click here to view full story…

 

Southend Council set to oppose Boris’s Thames Estuary airport

February 14, 2012     Southend Council is set to formally oppose plans to build a £50billion airport in the Thames Estuary. The council is expected to agree a motion to use “all means within its power” to block the bid to create one of the world’s biggest airports, just a few miles off the town’s coastline. The pledge will be voted on by councillors on March 1. The Tory deputy leader said he was totally against the scheme. Boris has claimed the airport would only take 6 years to build if huge investment from countries such as Brazil or China could be secured. The idea has been consistently opposed by politicians from all parties in south Essex.     Click here to view full story…

 

Bird watchers, politicians, fisherman, environmentalists, yachtsmen and other worried residents join new campaign against Thames Estuary airport

February 11, 2012      On 10th February, about the coldest night of the winter, around 80 people attended a rousing meeting in Leigh on Sea, to both find out about what proposals for a Thames Estuary airport mean, and join a new campaign against it. Speakers included Keith Taylor (Green MEP); David Amess MP; Peter Wexham, a Southend councillor; George Crozer, an Isle of Grain Parish Councillor; Paul Gilson, a local fisherman, and David Hedges from the RSPB. They covered a wide range of issues relating to the impacts that a massive estuary airport might have, as well as the history of failed proposals in the past. A new campaign group is being set up, gearing itself up for the consultation on estuary airport proposals and also on future UK aviation policy, that starts next month. Another meeting will be arranged on the south bank of the estuary, on the Isle of Grain, to grow the campaign there.     Click here to view full story…

 

Chancellor George Osborne in airport meetings with backers

February 10, 2012    It has emerged, through FoI, that Chancellor George Osborne and his officials held a string of private meetings with the backers of plans for a new airport in Kent, including the London Mayor Boris Johnson. There were also regular contacts with Foster and Partners and Halcrow. The previously undisclosed contacts stretched over a 4-month period between May and August last year. The government has refused to say why the meetings were held and who asked for them, saying that it is not in the public interest to do so. The meetings reinforce speculation that the Treasury and the Chancellor have been instrumental in pushing the government towards backing the highly contentious idea of a new hub airport after David Cameron had, a year earlier, publicly vetoed the prospect.  Click here to view full story…

 

Leader of Swale Borough Council says North Kent would become “strip of tarmac” under airport plans

February 7, 2012    Swale Council Leader warns that if an airport was built in the Thames Estuary, the area would become a massive house building site. There are not enough houses to accommodate people moving to the area for jobs at the proposed hub. “We would have to tarmac over the whole of north Kent to provide housing.”    Click here to view full story…

 

Birmingham airport continues to promote itself as the alternative to a “Boris island” airport

February 4, 2012     John Morris, head of government and industry affairs, Birmingham Airport has a long article in the Birmingham Mail and the Post, saying how ideally suited his airport is to take extra traffic and expand hugely, being the best solution to the alleged lack of airport capacity. He says Boris is “quite right to ask how Britain’s airports can meet the growing demand from holiday-making families and business travellers” and asks “….it hardly seems possible that an estuary airport could be built within 20 years. So how is Boris going to fill the gap in the meantime?” Answer: Birmingham. The DfT future passenger forecasts in August 2011 suggested Birmingham might reach 27 million passengers by 2050, but the airport puts this at 30 million by 2030. They want the focus moved from the south east, and they want what they describe as courageous thinking. i.e. expand Birmingham.  Click here to view full story…

 

Poll finds only one in five supports a Thames estuary airport

February 4, 2012     A recent small telephone poll of 250 Kent people, by the Kent newspaper company, asked  “Do you support plans for a new international airport in the Thames estuary or on the Isle of Grain.”  Responses showed that of those questioned, 31% were undecided on their opinion on an estuary airport.  (So about 52% were opposed, and about 17% were in favour). Click here to view full story…

 

London First report wants 3rd Heathrow runway, and mixed mode on both its runways, as well as a new south east hub airport

February 1, 2012     London First, which calls themselves “an influential business membership organisation with the mission to make London the best city in the world in which to do business” have today produced a report called “London, Britain and the world: Transport links for economic growth”. The report says that an expanded at Heathrow as the “only credible option” for the capital. It accuses the government of being unwilling to consider “politically difficult solutions”. They are calling for significant improvement in London’s connectivity, both with the rest of the UK and with emerging international markets. They want easier planning and suggest varioius recommendations “to deliver short, medium and long-term improvements to London’s road, rail and air links.” They are asking for an expanded Heathrow, flights landing and taking off on both Heathrow runways (mixed mode) and a new south east airport ……..    Click here to view full story…

 

Thames Estuary airport plans to come under spotlight

31.1.2012 (Kent Online)   The case for a Thames Estuary airport is to be put under the spotlight by a powerful group of business chiefs and council leaders in the region. The South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) is to commission a major study into airports in the region.  The study will consider “the optimum location for a potential hub airport” in the area.  The LEP is a group of business and council representatives set up by the government to steer job creation and boost investment in the region.  It has identified the Thames Gateway as a key area for its aim of helping create 113,000 jobs in North Kent and south Essex over the next 20 years.  Click here to view full story ….

 

Bird strike risk at proposed Thames Estuary airport

30.1.2012   Experts have warned the government that a new airport in the Thames Estuary would put aircraft landing and taking off in danger of bird strikes. The last time that ministers proposed building a new hub in the south-east, a study showed that there was a significant chance that a passenger jet could be brought down after hitting one, or a flock of birds. The report showed that even if there was substantial draining of ponds, cutting down of woodland and shooting of birds, there would still be a high risk of planes being brought out of the sky because of birds. The original report was commissioned back in 2003 when Labour was in power and considering a new hub in Cliffe on the Kent coast.  http://www.comparecarhire.co.uk/news/bird-strike-risk-at-proposed-thames-estuary-airport-53842209.html

 

Risk of bird strikes would make Thames Estuary UK’s ‘most dangerous airport’

January 27, 2012    A report commissioned by Labour in 2003 says that an airport in the Thames estuary would have a high risk of birdstrike, with the chance of a plane being hit being one per 100 to 300 years, much higher than the risk at other airports. And this even after extensive work to make the area as unattractive as possible to birds, such as cutting down woodland, draining ponds, planting artificial grass and shooting birds when necessary. Even with all that work to be as unfriendly to birds as possible, it is “not considered possible to reduce the risk to a level similar to that experienced at other UK airports.” This report is as one reason Labour rejected the Cliffe proposal, but it was not published at the time. Ministers have not yet announced the exact site for the proposed airport that they will consider in the aviation consultation, staring in March.    Click here to view full story…

 

David Cameron faces Tory revolt over Thames Estuary airport on ‘Boris Island’

January 26, 2012     Already facing opposition from a swathe of Tory MPs to proposals to HS2, the PM is now facing the threat of a revolt over the estuary airport issue. Six backbenchers have written to Cameron urging him to kill the “Boris Island” scheme off, warning that it would cause huge environmental damage to the area. It is understood that several ministers and Tory whips, who are not signatories to the letter, are also unhappy at the prospect of a massive new hub airport either on the Isle of Grain or on reclaimed land in the Thames Estuary. The MPs signing the letter are Remhan Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham); Tracey Crouch (Chatham & Aylesford); Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne & Sheppey); Adam Holloway (Gravesham); Gareth Johnson (Dartford) and Mark Reckless (Rochester & Strood).    Click here to view full story…

 

Airport proposals ‘catastrophic’ for wildlife

Tuesday 24th January 2012 (Wildlife Trusts)   Any airport development in the Thames Estuary would be catastrophic for fragile ecosystems and wildlife, warns Kent Wildlife Trust which is prepared to fight any proposals. They say the Thames and Medway estuaries are extremely rich in wildlife and are internationally important for nature conservation.  An airport here, whether coastal or offshore, will be catastrophic for wildlife communities. They mention water voles, black-tailed godwit, shrill carder bumblebee, short snouted sea horse. Common and grey seals use the sandbanks in the Thames Estuary at low tide.  Planes using a new airport may scare them off and the loss of marine habitat from an airport would probably affect populations of the fish they feed on. http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/news/2012/01/24/airport-proposals-catastrophic-wildlife

 

Nirj Deva MEP backs ‘No Estuary Airport’ campaign!

January 22, 2012     Nirj Deva (Conservative MEP for the South East) has given his backing to the ‘No Estuary Airport’ campaign during a visit to the Isle of Grain.He attended a meeting on the Isle of Grain, joined by local MP Mark Reckless, and Peninsula Ward Councillors Phil Filmer, Chris Irvine and Tony Watson. He said:  “The proposal to consult on building a new airport in the region of the Thames Estuary is a complete nonsense.  If additional capacity is required, the government should be looking to improve existing facilities and infrastructure.  The government should be doing all it can to protect our natural and unique habitats here in the South East, not wasting time and taxpayers’ money on unnecessary and extravagant schemes.”   Click here to view full story …

 

Janet Street Porter: “Lord Gherkin and the £50bn airport that we don’t need”

January 23, 2012     Janet writes that architects like Norman Foster (tax exile architect) have notoriously huge egos and want to leave a legacy of important monuments so they can be revered after their death. He’s already given us the Gherkin and Wembley Stadium, but this monstrous white elephant of an airport in the Thames Estuary must be consigned to the recycling bin. And that Lord Foster says the problem with Brits is that we endlessly argue about what to do. Stansted (which he designed) took 24 years to build, whereas the airport for Beijing in China took just four. The reason for that, Lord Foster, is that we live in a democracy — it’s not dithering, it’s called letting voters have their say. And Janet says that Lord Foster cares so much about the UK that he has based himself in Switzerland for many years.    Click here to view full story…

 

Thames estuary airport threat to rare wildlife

20.1.2012    Seventeen local and national organisations make up the Biodiversity Action Group that works to protect the delicate habitat in the Thames estuary and they say that the proposals, which include creating a man-made island or building on the Isle of Grain, could have devastating consequences for rare and endangered wildlife in the area. According to conservation charity Buglife, the estuary is one of the last habitats to support rare species of bumblebee and other invertebrates and development in the area could precipitate a further dangerous decline in numbers.Hundreds of thousands of birds such as ringed plovers, redshanks, avocets, black-tailed godwits and dunlins, also use the estuary, as an essential feeding ground during winter or migration. And the article gives a lot of information about species that would be put at risk. http://www.cityplanter.co.uk/news/thames-estuary-airport-threat-to-rare-wildlife

 

KCC opposes estuary airport but says Manston is the short term answer to airport shortage

January 20, 2012   Both Medway Council and Kent County Council have described plans for a Thames estuary airport as a “pie in the sky” idea, and believe Manston airport should be developed instead. Kent County Council has recently said “The building of a new airport will take at least a few years to come to fruitition. Increasing the use of Manston airport could help the government’s initiative to boost airport capacity in the South East in the short term.” This is very troubling to people living around Manston. Leaders on Medway Council have called on Transport Secretary Justine Greening to look at “fully utilising the capacity of existing airports including Manston and Birmingham, which could both be joined to London by high speed rail.”   Click here to view full story…

 

Southend Tory MPs line up to fight estuary airport proposals

January 20, 2012    Two MPs have publicly opposed plans for the estuary airport. Castle Point MP Rebecca Harris and James Duddridge MP for Rochford and Southend East, fear the plan would be detrimental to south Essex. Mrs Harris, who met with London mayor Boris Johnson before Christmas, said: “I will be opposing anything which would spoil the tranquillity of my constituency. Mr Duddridge added: “I do not think this airport is right, sensible, realistic or deliverable.”  [However, the worrying feature is that some in Southend want to press for expansion instead at Manston, which would be deeply unacceptable to people there. This sort of passing the buck is not sensible, and does nobody any favours] . Click here to view full story…

 

Letter from key green groups in UK against Thames Estuary airport plan

January 20, 2012    The letter, in the Telegraph, from 16 environmental and development groups in the UK concludes that action on climate change is now needed more urgently than ever. Aviation is already responsible for more than a fifth of the UK transport sector’s greenhouse gas emissions, and an airport accommodating 180 million passengers each year, as proposed by Boris Johnson, would be much larger than any airport in operation in the world today. Such a scheme would effectively be the death-knell for the Government’s promise to be the greenest ever, and would undermine its ability to show international climate leadership. “That’s why we will be opposing it every step of the way.”  Click here to view full story…

 

British Airways won’t abandon Heathrow for ‘Boris Island’

(Telegraph)  18.1.2012    British Airways would not move to a Thames Estuary airport unless Heathrow was closed by the Government, Willie Walsh has said. The chief executive of BA-owner IAG said he did not believe the £50bn project – £20bn for the airport and the rest for related infrastructure – could be financed. He also doubted whether the Government had the courage to close Britain’s main airport, a move that would cause unprecedented social and economic upheaval. Heathrow employs 76,600 people and supports a total 114,000 jobs locally. “Would you put £50bn into it unless you knew Heathrow is going to close? I don’t think you would,” said Mr Walsh.   Click here to view full story ….

Does London need a new airport?

18.1.2012  The government is poised to announce a consultation on a new airport in the Thames estuary. Do we need it? Polly Curtis, with your help, finds out. Get in touch below the line, email your views to polly.curtis@guardian.co.uk or tweet @pollycurtis   There is a lot of detailed argument, for and against, loads of facts from various commentators and many comments.    Click here to view full story ….

 

Tories demand new runway to reduce the continental drift

( ££ ) Times.  19.1.2012  A report by the Free Enterprise Group of Tory MPs from the 2010 intake says that Britain’s dire economic circumstances mean the Prime Minister should reopen the debate about expanding existing airports. It suggests compensating residents affected by extra noise with payments of up to £40,000 to make the plans feasible. The suggestion of a third runway at Heathrow is most controversial given that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats opposed it at the last election. Justine Greening, the Transport Secretary and a West London MP, was one of the most vocal protesters. Click here to view full story ….

 

How Boris Island is blocked by his father’s great work

January 18, 2012    If “Boris Island” is ever to become a fully fledged £50bn international aviation hub with six runways and links to Europe and London, as Boris hopes, the government will need to get round, weaken or somehow overcome the EU Habitats directive, the gold standard legislation that has protected the wild north Kent marshes and its myriad birds, plants, insects, bats and newts from development for nearly 30 years.That was his dad’s great work. The EU Habitats directive is the great and lasting endeavour Stanley Johnson, working in Brussels in the late 1970s.  Click here to view full story…

 

Medway open letter calls for urgent meeting with Secretary of State over Thames estuary airport

January 18, 2012    The Leader of Medway Council, Rodney Chambers, and the leaders of three main groups of Medway councillors, have written an open letter to Theresa Villiers, asking for a meeting on the subject of an estuary airport. They say they need to discuss face to face the ramifications of such proposals for Medway, the historic county of Kent and all communities near the Thames estuary. They say “We strongly urge you to keep to government policy and continue looking at fully utilising the capacity of existing airports”.  Click here to view full story…

 

‘Boris Island’ airport plan grounded over Johnson’s briefing to Telegraph

January 18, 2012     The Guardian reports that Downing Street is not happy about how Boris and his team gave the Telegraph their story about the estuary airport, and how this has backfired by producing a united and concerted opposition from the Lib Dems. It is thought that the Lib Dems will support a consultation by Justine Greening on how to maintain a hub airport, but they will oppose any new airport. Boris and some business people persist in pushing the line that the UK must have a huge airport in order to compete with European countries (which in turn build larger airports to compete with London), and that this is the only way in which the UK can get flights to lesser known Chinese cities. The only attraction for the government of a massive airport project would be the hope of large numbers of attractive jobs for years.    Click here to view full story…

 

John Stewart on Cameron’s change of heart about Boris and his airport

January 18, 2012   John – Chair of AirportWatch – writes that the high-profile way David Cameron chose to make the announcement that the government will look at the merits of a new airport in the Thames Estuary suggests that it has as much to do with political calculation as aviation policy. He will be hoping that the London mayor’s persistent championing of the proposal will garner him votes from West London in the forthcoming mayoral elections. His announcement also serves the political purpose of reassuring business, which for years has been calling for new infrastructure. The prime minister is aware he is creating a mirage of economic activity. He also knows that the estuary airport may never happen and has staged a drama for political effect.   Click here to view full story…

 

The Thames estuary airport proposal shows the true Tory agenda

January 18, 2012.  Juliette Jowit:  The Conservatives said they opposed airport construction and expansion. Their decision to consider a major new hub airport in the estuary puts the lie to that.   In 2011 Chancellor George Osborne’s autumn statement: “For the first time we are identifying over 500 infrastructure projects we want to see built over the next decade and beyond.  Roads, railways, airport capacity, power stations, waste facilities, broadband networks… And we will explore all the options for maintaining the UK’s aviation hub status, with the exception of a third runway at Heathrow… And we will make sure that gold plating of EU rules on things like habitats aren’t placing ridiculous costs on British businesses. Planning laws need reform.”  Click here to view full story …

 

How the Boris Island airport would impact Thames estuary wildlife

January 18 ,2012.  Juliette Jowit, Guardian:  The airport would impose on five separate Special Protection Areas, cause tidal shifts and various kinds of pollution, and could require a bird-sterilisation programme  Altogether, the airport land and surrounding areas and waters provide habitat for passing or over-wintering avocet, hen harriers, ringed and golden plovers, marsh harriers, little tern, dunlin and pintail, as well as hosting one of a new breed of marine sites, this one designated for its population of 6,000-8,000 red-throated divers. There is a Special Area of Conservation preserved for its species-rich estuaries, mudlflats and salt meadows. Much of the area is also covered by the Ramsar international convention on wetlands, recognising how crucial the estuary is for birds travelling as far afield as Siberia, Canada and north Africa.  Click here to view full story …

 

David Cameron to give his provisional support to estuary airport

January 17, 2012    Cameron is expected to offer his provisional support to Boris’s estuary airport scheme. He is now thought to back the project, though he was initially against it. The Thames airport proposal will be in the government’s aviation policy consultation that starts in March, though Downing Street says the government will make a final decision on the basis of the consultation process. This announcement may have been intended for earlier in the month, and may have been delayed by doubts by Nick Clegg. The Lib Dems used to have a policy to oppose airport expansion. Since we have committed to spend £32 billion on HST, there isn’t a lot of spare money for other projects.   Click here to view full story…

 

Campaign launched against £50bn Thames Estuary airport

January 4, 2012   A new campaign has been set up to oppose either Boris Island or Foster’s Folly – the two options for airports in the Thames Estuary. Canvey town councillors are making preparations to join forces with parish councils in Kent to oppose the plans. Together they reckon they could be a very vociferous group. County councillor Ray Howard has put forward a motion to Essex County Council, to be discussed soon, on behalf of the town council opposing the estuary airport plans. There are many strong statements from a range of prominent people, showing their opposition to the plans.  Click here to view full story…

Medway Council Cabinet meeting on opposition to estuary airport plans

January 4, 2012    Medway Council’s Cabinet met on 20th December to discuss proposals for a huge airport in the Thames Estuary. The report to the Cabinet by Robin Cooper, Director of Regeneration, Community and Culture advised Members of the 3 current proposals for International Airports in Medway and Kent and recommends strong opposition to all the proposals. They give 10 good reasons for opposing the plans, and these include environmental destruction, adverse effects on homes, massive new house building covering swathes of the area in buildings, CO2 emission, fog and cost. Click here to view full story…

 

Nicholas Faith: Boris Island must never be able to get off the ground

January 1, 2012     Nicholas Faith argues that an estuary airport is not needed. The cost would be vast and Lord Foster rather airily assumes the money could be raised internationally. The existence of 300,000 permanent resident birds on the banks of the estuary is decisive in itself. They now occupy five Special Protection Areas which could not be replaced by a man-made bird sanctuary. Another delusion is that we need a Very Major Airport to demonstrate that we are a Very Major Player on the world business scene. Too many Heathrow flights are short haul, and Heathrow should focus on long haul, leaving most of the short haul to the other London airports.   Click here to view full story…

 

Selling Heathrow won’t pay for a Thames airport

December 30, 2011   The advocates of an estuary airport hope that it could partly be funded by selling the land at Heathrow which they speculate might raise £12 billion. However, the reason that land round Heathrow is so valuable is because there’s an airport there: close it down and the value collapses. Freight in particular goes from Heathrow, and its location is key. Some 77,000 people work at Heathrow for 320 different companies and more than 200,000 have jobs that depend on it. Once the planes stop flying, it is just another brown-field site.   Click here to view full story…

 

Bird life in the Thames estuary a significant reason to block project

December 4, 2011    Article about Kent concerns about an estuary airport. Include the threat of catastrophic bird strike and the destruction of wetland habitats protected by EU and global treaties. “They will cull all the birds but then they will sterilise the land. If you want to stop attracting birds to go near an airport you need to make sure the land is not attractive to them”. Lord Foster’s plan would destroy five nature reserves and disrupt hundreds of hectares of marshland designated as SPA under the EU Birds Directive and the Ramsar Convention. The RSPB -backed by a million members- sees the Thames Estuary as a test case.   Click here to view full story…

 

George Osborne’s airport hint has Thames estuary in a spin

December 3, 2011    For residents of Grain village the Chancellor’s statement that the government will consider plans for an estuary airport next year was confirmation of the threat to their homes. Osbourne is sold on the idea that infrastructure investment can boost the UK by providing economic links for business and unlocking cash from British pension funds. He also unveiled a memorandum of understanding with the National Association of Pension Funds and the Pension Protection Fund to invest up to £20bn in projects such a the four-runway airport.    Click here to view full story…

 

Autumn statement by Chancellor. U-turn on Gatwick and Stansted airports and consideration of estuary airport. But APD will rise in April

November 29, 2011  In this autumn statement, George Osborne – in a desperate attempt to boost the economy – has turned his back on environmental safeguards and the green economy, to encourage high carbon infrastructure. He has said he wants to improve, performance and resilience of airports. He says the Government is committed to maintaining the status of the UK as an international hub for aviation, with excellent connectivity to both developed as well as emerging markets. He said “And we will explore all the options for maintaining the UK’s aviation hub status, with the exception of a third runway at Heathrow.” So that means runways at Gatwick and Stansted are to be considered again, as well as looking at an estuary hub. However, on the plus side, even with all the lobbying by the aviation industry for APD to be reduced or frozen, the rates will rise in April 2012 in line with inflation. APD is then likely to rise to £13 (from £12) per passenger for European flights; and rise to £65 (from £60) for Band B; to £82 (from £75) for Band C; and to £93 (from £85) for Band D. Future projections of UK air passengers are very high – up to 335mppa (within the range 300mppa to 380 mppa) in 2030 and to 470mppa (within the range 380mppa to 515 mppa) in 2050 – compared to 211 million passengers per annum (mppa) in 2010 . Therefore the government believes there will be an airport capacity challenge in the south east after that date. This was not a good day for the environment, and the last hopes that this government really might be trying to be the “greenest government ever” have faded. Click here to view full story…

Thames Estuary airport plans will be considered by the government

November 29, 2011    People living around the Thames estuary are increasingly worried about prospects of one or other scheme being taken seriously by government next year. There are concerns about wildlife and birds; also about the wreck of a wartime ship that contains explosives. Kent County Council has joined forces with Medway Council and the RSPB in the Stop the Estuary Airport campaign, which encourages people to email Mr Johnson stating their opposition.     Click here to view full story…

Boris’s 2nd report on his Estuary Airport (megalomanic) dream

November 22, 2011     The GLA has now produced the 2nd part of the Mayor’s report into his plan for a mega-giant airport in the Thames estuary. The first part of the report came out in January. It would appear that this monster airport, with up to 180 million passengers per year, (almost x3 the size of Heathrow) would only get this size if aviation climate targets are reduced and if other airports in the south east, or in the rest of the UK, have fewer passengers. Megalomania indeed.    Click here to view full story…

 

Expensive and ineffective: Boris Johnson’s island airport (even Tories think so)

November 21, 2011   Writing in Left Foot Forward, John Stewart (Chair of AirportWatch) says the carefully-placed article today, exclusive to the Times, looks like an attempt to distance the government from the mayor’s speech to the IoD. which his aides have been using as proof that the idea of an estuary airport is gaining traction. With the announcement earlier by Maria Eagle that Labour no longer support a 3rd Heathrow runway, the industry is not clear what it should unite behind. Most city firms are not keen on an estuary airport.     Click here to view full story…

Thames Estuary airport plans delayed until next year

November 21, 2011    The final nail in the coffin of plans to build a huge Thames Estuary airport may not be hammered in until next year, according to The Times. It says ministers have ruled out making any decision on the issue until mid-2012 – and even then are likely to reject the proposals. Ministers are dubious of the viability of either scheme with the biggest stumbling block being the cost of the project, as well as adverse impacts on jobs and the economy round Heathrow. Click here to view full story…

Campaigners challenge London Mayor over need more airport capacity in the South East

November 21, 2011    While the Mayor of London is expected to release a report arguing for new runways, campaigners question the need for more airport capacity. Boris is expected to argue that new airport capacity in the South East will help revive the economy. AirportWatch has produced figures which show that London has a greater number of flights to the world’s main business destinations than any of its European rivals, Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.   Click here to view full story…

Lord Foster unveils ambitious airport plans for Hoo Peninsula

2nd November 2011    Lord Foster has revealed ambitious plans for a multi-billion pounds transport hub connecting the UK’s main sea ports and creating a huge new airport in Kent. The Thames Hub plans bring together a new river barrier and crossing, a 4 runway international airport on the Hoo Peninsula, and a shipping and rail complex.Foster says it will “lay the foundations for the future prosperity of Britain” and “create jobs across the UK and boost the economies …” etc etc  Click here to view full story…

Government won’t rule out plans for Boris Island airport in Thames Estuary

2nd November 2011   Plans for a Thames Estuary airport have not been ruled out completely by the government. Justine Greening said the coalition was willing to examine options to increase capacity in the region. “The Mayor is obviously a keen campaigner for the scheme and it will be something we look at…” said a DfT spokesman. She left open the possibility that the airport plan – dubbed Boris Island – could still be part of the agenda. They also back expansion at many airports.  Click here to view full story…

Kent and Essex airport plan debated by businesses

28th October 2011    Proposals to build an airport in the Thames Estuary have been debated by business leaders in Kent. Boris is keen to have a £40bn facility between the Essex and Kent coasts. The RSPB, Medway Council and Kent County Council have opposed the idea, saying it would damage the environment. But some business leaders feel opposition obscures the potential economic benefits. Daniel Moylan says the airport would create 70,000 jobs (ignoring the jobs lost elsewhere).    Click here to view full story…

Boris Johnson rows back from his £40bn Estuary airport

5.10.2011   Boris says he is no longer committed to an estuary airport & hinted that new high-speed rail links could be the answer. He now concedes there may be alternative ideas to “Boris island” but it is “extremely superficially attractive.” And “More and more freight is now coming by air. If London is going to remain competitive we have to think about air capacity.” He blamed “nimby activists” for problems securing a location for airport expansion.   Click here to view full story…

 

Thames airport plan slammed by leader of Medway Council

3rd August 2011     Councillor Rodney Chambers said the idea to build an airport on the Isle of Grain was “the daftest in a long list of pie in the sky schemes that have been put forward”. Norman Fosters’ recently announced proposals are for The Thames Hub, a project which would bring together rail freight connections between the UK’s main sea ports, a 150 million passenger airport to replace Heathrow, a tidal energy barrage and a new flood protection barrier.   Click here to view full story…

Lord Foster says giant airport in Kent on the Isle of Grain would improve life… ‘for Londoners’

2nd August 2011    Lord Foster says his controversial plan to build the world’s biggest airport on Kent’s Hoo Peninsula would “improve the quality of life for Londoners”. Local politicians and environment campaigners claim the plan would be a disaster for Kent and is “pie in the sky”. Lord Foster’s proposal is to build a giant four-runway airport which could handle 150 million passengers a year, and says his proposals are far from future fantasy, and are essential.   Click here to view full story…

THE TIMES – Leader: “A New Airport for London” – supports a massive Estuary airport

23rd June 2011     The Times, a long time backer of a third runway at Heathrow and of increased UK aviation, writes in a leader that the UK must increase its infrastructure, and this would involve building a new airport in the Thames estuary – perhaps close to Whitstable.  Boris Johnson expects an immense (unrealistic?) increase in the number of air passengers over the next 30 years.  The Times says “It is time for David Cameron to take a fresh look at the Thames Estuary.”    Click here to view full story…

Boris Johnson: build new London airport to avoid ‘historic’ mistake

22nd June 2011     Boris says the government must push for a new London airport to avoid making a “historic mistake” that will cause serious damage to the UK economy. He claims Britain is missing out on investment and sacrificing jobs to its European rivals, and the only solution is to create a new aviation hub to serve the capital. He says the economy will be damaged without more aviation capacity, so London can remain one of the world’s great cities.  He said the UK could have another 85m passengers a year and still be within CO2 limits.  Click here to view full story…

London mayor Boris Johnson backs call for hub airport

18th January 2011    Boris Johnson has backed a report calling for a new airport in SE England.  Overseen by Daniel Moylan, deputy chairman of TfL, it claims the economy will suffer and jobs lost to European competitors without a hub airport. And that in terms of destinations served, Heathrow had fallen from 2nd in 1990 to 7th in 2010.  Boris said for London to remain at the centre of global business “we need aviation links that will allow us to compete with our rivals”. (BBC)      Click here to view full story…

Calls again for Kent airport at Hoo by John Olsen etc

29th December 2010    A group of former aviation industry executives, led by John Olsen (former commercial director of Cathay Pacific and ex-head of failed airline Dan-Air) is urging the government to look again at proposals for a £14bn three-runway, 24-hour-a-day hub airport on the Hoo peninsula. They believe an airport at Hoo would be more practical and chepaer than Boris Johnson’s idea of an island airport in the Thames estuary. They dismiss the bird arguments against.     Click here to view full story…

 

Boris Johnson to press for Thames Estuary airport

26th November 2010    Boris Johnson will formally take his case for a new hub airport in the South-East to Transport Secretary Philip Hammond. His deputy at Transport for London, Daniel Moylan, said he would argue for the option to be included in the Government’s first aviation review.  Business groups believe airport expansion is essential for the growth of London’s economy. Ministers have repeatedly poured cold water on the proposal on cost grounds.  (Standard)    Click here to view full story…

PM rules out Thames Estuary airport plan

 27th October 2010     The government has ruled out proposals to build a major airport in the Thames Estuary or Kent to increase flight capacity for London. The Prime Minister told the House of Commons the government had no plans to construct a new airport in the area. Mayor of London Boris Johnson has been considering plans for a new airport in Kent and the Thames Estuary, and wants to increase flight capacity around London without expanding Heathrow.    Click here to view full story…

Anger over revised plans for airport on Hoo peninsula

25th October 2010    Campaigners against a new airport in Kent have expressed anger that 7 years after winning a fight against the plan it is now being reconsidered. A review by Boris Johnson is to look at the option of developing the proposed site at Cliffe.  Back in December 2003, the government decided to leave Cliffe out of its airport expansion plans. In summer it is an important breeding ground for birds such as avocets, marsh harriers, Mediterranean gulls and little terns.  (BBC)   Click here to view full story…

Mayor considers Hoo peninsula in Kent as Thames Estuary airport option

24th October 2010    A proposal to build a major airport on the Hoo peninsula is one of several options being considered by the Boris Johnson. He wants to increase flight capacity around London without expanding Heathrow, and has also been considering an airport in the Thames Estuary. A spokesperson for the Mayor said it was “vital that a location for extra runway capacity was found for London to remain one of the leading world cities.” Bird strike would be a very real problem, not to mention devastating effects on bird populations and special protected areas of habitat.   Click here to view full story…

New fears on ‘Boris Island’ airport

22nd October 2010    The coalition Government’s stance on a Thames Estuary airport off Sheppey has been questioned by a Swale councillor. He asked the Swale Council leader whether the failure of David Cameron to dismiss the proposal meant it might be taken more seriously. This came after the issue was raised during a BBC interview with Mr Cameron at the Conservative Party conference. Mr Cameron had indicated he was happy for a series of feasibility reports to have been done.    Click here to view full story…

Boris Island airport dead in water

3rd August 2010    Plans for a “Boris island” airport in the Thames estuary have been finally killed off as Philip Hammond rejected the idea. But Boris Johnson said it was “utterly ridiculous” to block the expansion of aviation around the capital. Mr Hammond wrote: “I can confirm that the Government has no plans to build any new airports in the region.” Boris is terrified London will not be able to compete with Turkey’s huge, gleaming new airport …    (Standard and Telegraph)   Click here to view full story…

MPs sign up to back Thames airport on ‘Boris Island’

  1st July 2010     An all-party group of over 20 MPs has been formed, by Bernard Jenkins, to rescue Boris’s controversial vision of an island airport in the Thames. The MPs have signed up to campaign for “Boris Island”. It might be 4 or 6 runways. But Bernard Jenkins’ email appeal for members was given short shrift by Kent Tory MPs, such as Jackie Doyle-Price and Gordon Henderson. Most Conservative MPs oppose it, as do Labour, who support Heathrow runway 3.     Click here to view full story…

Mayor urged to ‘clarify’ estuary airport plans

5th March 2010    Boris Johnson has come under pressure to clarify whether he intends to push ahead with proposals to build an airport in the Thames after he appeared to backtrack on previous statements supporting the scheme. He had inadvertently told BBC One’s Question Time that he did not want to build an airport in te estuary, but later confirmed what he meant was there are no actual plans in place to build an airport. The idea appears to be in chaos.   (MayorWatch and BBC)    Click here to view full story…

‘Boris island’ airport would cause European flight chaos, say airlines

1st March 2010    The world’s leading airlines have condemned Boris Johnson’s £40 billion plan for a Thames Estuary airport. The Mayor hopes to build a 6-runway hub on an artificial island off the Kent coast as an alternative to expanding Heathrow. The Board of Airline Representatives UK said they and its members — including BA, Air France, Qantas, Virgin Atlantic and TWA — did not support the scheme. He set out some of the massive problems an estuary airport would cause. (This is London)   Click here to view full story…

‘Boris Island’ airport to be discussed by London Assembly on 11th March

10th February 2010    An expert in constructing airports on artificial islands will brief the London Assembly on building an airport in the Thames Estuary.  Douglas Oakervee found building an airport on the site was technically feasible, after he was asked to look into the idea by Boris Johnson, and will deliver his report on March 11th to discuss the potential environmental impacts of the plan.  (This is local London)   Click here to view full story…

Cameron rules out Thames island airport

22nd January 2010     David Cameron has effectively ruled out building a new airport in the Thames Estuary.  He said if elected to government in the election it would not be the policy to construct the four-runway airport.  He said the Tories don’t want a 3rd runway at Heathrow and can stop that from happening.  They want rail to replace flights for those trips for which it is a sensible option.  Opponents in Kent are delighted by Cameron’s comment. (BBC)      Click here to view full story…

London mayor repeatedly snubbed Kent’s leaders over ‘Boris Island’ airport

13th January 2010   Leaders in Kent County Council feel they have been repeatedly snubbed by Boris Johnson, over the proposed airport.  Correspondence reveals Boris has fobbed off successive please to discuss the issue despite its potential huge impact on Kent. Letters have been released under FoI. The leader of KCC asked Theresa Villiers to broker a meeting, but even that failed. The leader of Medway Council has also been snubbed.  Click here to view full story…

Medway Council says Thames airport ‘completely wrong’

8th January 2010       Plans by London’s mayor Boris Johnson to build an airport on an artificial island in the Thames estuary have been branded “pie in the sky” by Medway Council.  A feasibility review approved by the council’s cabinet says the plan is “completely wrong”.  The airport would be some 60 miles from London and like moving Manchester Airport to Leeds.  Medway’s research indicates severe risk of bird strikes and   be very damaging to migrating birds. (BBC)       Click here to view full story…

Transport Secretary rubbishes Boris Island plans

19th October 2009    Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has described plans for a new airport in the Thames Estuary as “not in any way credible”. London Mayor Boris Johnson wants foreign businessmen to bankroll the proposed development off the coast of the Isle of Sheppey, as an alternative to a third runway at Heathrow. Adonis said “Even incremental proposals for increased capacity at the moment are very controversial.” (Kent news)    Click here to view full story…

Heathrow-on-Sea travel hub inches towards Heathrow airport

18th October 2009    Plans to relieve congestion at Heathrow by building a sister airport in the Thames estuary have moved a step closer. The 4-runway travel hub would be connected to the existing airport by a 200mph rail line that would enable passengers to transfer between flights in 45 minutes. The project has been declared technically feasible in a report commissioned by Boris Johnson. He has now appointed Sir David King to conduct a more detailed study. (Sunday Times)     Click here to view full story…

Mayor keen on island airport plan

16th October 2009   London’s mayor is to press ahead with the next stage of plans for an airport in the Thames estuary. A report by an engineer is understood to have found no major obstacles to constructing the airport several miles off the Essex and Kent coasts. Boris Johnson is expected to announce he is to proceed with more engineering and environmental assessments. It has angered environmentalists and Kent County Council has said it would fight the plans. (BBC)  Click here to view full story…

Heathrow-on-Sea set for takeoff

 13th July 2009     The airport, which could cost £40 billion, would span 4 runways across 2 islands and operate 24 hours a day, with landings over water to minimise disruption to residents. It would be linked to mainland terminals by either bridges or tunnels, and powered by giant water turbines. On Wednesday a panel of experts at the ICE will discuss the plans. It will be led by Sir David King, who will submit his research to Boris Johnson 3 weeks later. (Times)   Click here to view full story…

 

New Thames airport ‘no Heathrow threat’

19th March 2009     Air traffic control officials – NATS – have denied suggestions Heathrow would have to close if a new airport was built in the Thames Estuary. A feasibility study into a new airport to the south-east of London, an idea first proposed nearly a decade ago, is due to be published later this month. (BBC)    Click here to view full story…

 

Johnson airport plans could threaten legal challenge to Heathrow runway

5th February 2009      A spokesman for the 2M group has claimed Boris Johnson’s plans to build a new airport in the Thames estuary could weaken a legal challenge against expansion of Heathrow he is helping to fund with £15,000. (Guardian)      Click here to view full story…

Boris Island is a fantasy, says Labour

4th February 2009      Boris Johnson’s proposal to build an airport in the Thames Estuary is a fantasy, according to London Assembly Labour environmental spokesman Murad Qureshi.  (NCE)      Click here to view full story…