"Boris Island" Airport In Thames Estuary Rejected
2 September 2014, 07:47 | Updated: 2 September 2014, 07:48
Plans for a new airport in the Thames Estuary, just off the Essex coast, have been rejected.
London Mayor Boris Johnson, who had championed the proposals, has accused the Airports Commission of setting the debate on aviation expansion back by half a century.
The thumbs down for the plan, which could have seen a four-runway brand new airport dubbed Boris Island, has come from the Whitehall-appointed Airports Commission.
Mr Johnson told of his disappointment ahead of the news being made official, but said he will press ahead with his plans and added that he remains confident his scheme will eventually come to fruition.
"In one myopic stroke the Airports Commission has set the debate back by half a century and consigned their work to the long list of vertically filed reports on aviation expansion that are gathering dust on a shelf in Whitehall,'' he said.
"Gatwick is not a long term solution and Howard Davies must explain to the people of London how he can possibly envisage that an expansion of Heathrow, which would create unbelievable levels of noise, blight and pollution, is a better idea than a new airport to the east of London that he himself admits is visionary, and which would create the jobs and growth this country needs to remain competitive.
"It remains the only credible solution, any process that fails to include it renders itself pretty much irrelevant, and I'm absolutely certain that it is the option that will eventually be chosen.''
The rejection of the estuary scheme will leave just three options - two additional runway plans at Heathrow and one at Gatwick - still on the table for consideration by the commission, which is charged with recommending where airport expansion should come.
Headed by former Financial Services Authority chief Sir Howard Davies, the commission is due to make its final report to ministers in summer 2015 - after the general election.
For many, the favourite option is expansion at Heathrow - an idea that has been totally rejected by Mr Johnson.
The added complication for Mr Johnson is that he is now seeking the Tory 2015 general election candidacy at Uxbridge and South Ruislip - a constituency that borders on Heathrow and which contains many people who depend on the west London airport for their livelihood.
Last December the commission shortlisted the Heathrow and Gatwick options and said it would look further at the estuary option while admitting that it was extremely expensive.
Since then the commission has published reports showing the possible environment cost of the estuary plan.
These are the shortlisted options:
- Gatwick Airport: At this site the commission's analysis will be based on a new runway over 3,000 metres in length spaced sufficiently south of the existing runway to permit fully independent operation.
- A new 3,500-metre runway constructed to the north west of the existing airport proposed by Heathrow Airport Ltd.
- An extension of the existing northern runway to the west of Heathrow proposed by Heathrow Hub Ltd, consortium including former Concorde pilot Jock Lowe. This scheme would see the runway lengthened to at least 6,000 metres, enabling it to be operated as two separate runways: one for departures and one for arrivals.
Mr Johnson's chief aviation adviser Daniel Moylan said yesterday that not short-listing the estuary option would be "a sadly short-sighted decision but far from the end of the process''.
He went on: "Airports policy has been stalled for nearly five decades, ricocheting like a billiard ball between Heathrow and Gatwick.
"We have one opportunity to break out of that but it seems the commission has taken us back to the same old, failed choice. But the final decision will lie with the Government and a key question now is whether the commission will play much of a role in that.''