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A group of protesters has forced the Government to review the approval for the expansion of Heathrow with a third runway: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-heathrows-clipped-wings-1928764.html

Whilst it is true to say that behind these protests is more than just a pinch of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard), rather than as they would wish to project “people of real principles”, there is no harm in that, Magna Carta was cynically signed by all the parties involved but became the “right thing” in the end never-the-less.

No To a Third Runway

I am a ‘supporter’ of aviation and have even lived right next door to Heathrow but truth to tell, not under the flight path but even so, the Third Runway is a total nonsense. Boris Johnson the Mayor of London, was quite right, Heathrow is an accident of planning or, a lack of, it is totally in the wrong place and instead of expanding it, should be wound down over 10 to 20 years.

We should build a new airport linked with high speed rail in an Estuary. I understand that because of Schiphol Airport in particular and ‘stacking’ aircraft, the Thames Estuary as a possible location may be problematic but if so, why not be more imaginative ?

The Bristol Channel

Why not build an airport on an artificial island in the Bristol Channel ? From there connect it to London, Birmingham and Manchester via high speed rail links. Beyond that and using the Severn Estuary as a ‘pivot’, it would be possible to open up the whole of Wales and right up the West Coast Route, connect Scotland too. As the legal challenge lay in the UK Governments legal obligations to reduce green house gases, it implies reducing the number of both flights and airports.

Why not grasp the challenge with both hands and really build some spectacular infrastructure ? Why not build a Cruise Ship Terminal on that artificial island too plus building the long proposed Severn Barrage which could contribute some 5 percent of UK electricity needs via tidal power which is far more reliable than wind power, two tides a day, second highest tidal rise and fall in the World.

Why not simply “think outside of the box ?”

I often watched in fascination during the peak ‘evening rush hours’ short haul jets arriving one every 90 seconds, an amazing thing to see. However, when you look at them stacked up way back over London on final approach, one really has to wonder about letting planes land or take off over your Capital City, totally ripe for a 9/11 type spectacular isn’t it. Lets move it now because the current cost estimates are likely to over run, by the time the job is done, we could have built from scratch !

We Have Run Out of Road

Another journalist made the point that it is 8 years since Alistair Darling, then the Transport Minister said that the Government would not sit back and do nothing over this issue but in effect, that is what has happened.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/simon-calder-eight-years-on-ministers-still-choose-to-do-nothing-1928737.html

However and leaving aside the ‘environmental’ issues with increasing Heathrow’s capacity, in all truth it really is not possible and the reason is the supporting infrastructure like roads. Ask anyone who for their ‘sins in a previous existence’ has to regularly travel the M25 either side of the M4 or, the biggest nightmare of all, travel down the M4 from Heathrow into Central London.

There is what is known economically as the ‘Heathrow Effect’ simply because the place is a mini city and the on-site and off-site employment it creates, is astonishing but then so too is the traffic it all generates and you really need to have lived or worked there to get a ‘handle’ on just how severely restricted the potential for road improvement is in the area. For those who don’t know, there is a ring road inside Heathrow Airport, ignoring any traffic to do with the airport itself, this road is crucial for local traffic, if it gets blocked for any reason, the whole area grinds to a halt.

In fact based upon roads alone, this proposal should never have seen the light of day, the cost of it all would be prohibitive, it would be far cheaper to build it anywhere else and link it with high speed rail links.

Conclusion

Although I hated the “Newt Lover”, he wasn’t entirely silly and people seem to forget that his last proposal was to extend the Congestion Zone all the way down the A4-M4 to Heathrow because it is as congested as Central London. Build it elsewhere, leave Heathrow as a freight handling facility until it dies a natural death as a new airport builds traction over a decade then dig the whole place up, landscape it and build houses and industrial parks.