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Thames airport 'should be rejected' - MPs report | Thames airport 'should be rejected' - MPs report |
(about 11 hours later) | |
The government should reject the "Boris Island" Thames Estuary airport plan and expand Heathrow instead, a report by MPs has said. | The government should reject the "Boris Island" Thames Estuary airport plan and expand Heathrow instead, a report by MPs has said. |
Mayor of London Boris Johnson has argued for a new four-runway hub airport in the Thames Estuary, to the east of London. | |
The House of Commons Transport Committee said that would be hugely expensive. | |
It also said it could harm estuary wildlife and lead to Heathrow closing. | |
Gatwick Airport said a third alternative, namely a second runway to the south of London, "will be the most deliverable solution and will provide the connections the UK needs whilst minimising environmental impacts". | |
But the Transport Committee said adding new runways to expand other existing airports was not a long-term solution, hence dismissing the Gatwick idea. | |
'Global aviation hub' | |
The MPs said a third runway at Heathrow is necessary instead and even suggest a fourth runway might have merit. | |
John Longworth, director general at the British Chambers of Commerce, welcomed the conclusion. | |
"Businesses across the UK will certainly be encouraged by the publication of this report," he said. | |
"Now it is time for the government to stop dithering and make this strategy a reality." | |
A Department for Transport spokesman said: "This Government is determined to find a lasting solution to maintain the UK's global aviation hub status." | |
'Huge public investment' | |
A third runway at Heathrow is opposed by both residents and councils in west London. | |
Mr Johnson said a four-runway airport to the west of London would be "politically undeliverable" and would "consign millions of Londoners to unacceptable levels of noise pollution", while a three-runway airport would be "obsolete" as soon as it was built. | |
"Moving London slightly to the east" would be cheaper, he said in an interview with the BBC. | |
Not so if infrastructure costs were taken into account, according to Transport Committee chair Louise Ellman MP. | |
"Research we commissioned made plain that building an entirely new hub airport east of London could not be done without huge public investment in new ground transport infrastructure," she said. | |
"Evidence to our inquiry also showed a substantial potential impact on wildlife habitat in the Thames Estuary. | "Evidence to our inquiry also showed a substantial potential impact on wildlife habitat in the Thames Estuary. |
"The viability of an estuary hub airport would also require the closure of Heathrow - a course of action that would have unacceptable consequences." | "The viability of an estuary hub airport would also require the closure of Heathrow - a course of action that would have unacceptable consequences." |
Mr Johnson said: "The committee is bang on the button in saying we need a proper hub airport. | Mr Johnson said: "The committee is bang on the button in saying we need a proper hub airport. |
"But, by suggesting that Heathrow should double its runways from two to four, the committee is putting four fingers up to hundreds of thousands of Londoners. | "But, by suggesting that Heathrow should double its runways from two to four, the committee is putting four fingers up to hundreds of thousands of Londoners. |
"London and the wider UK do need a hub airport that can operate 24 hours a day without constraint and the only place that is possible is to the east of London." | "London and the wider UK do need a hub airport that can operate 24 hours a day without constraint and the only place that is possible is to the east of London." |