No To Boris Island?

[youngmafbog]

http://news.sky.com/story/1183383/new-runways-for-gatwick-and-heathrow-airports

Looks like Heathrow/Gatwick are going to come out the winners. OK, not a definite but it has to be laying the path.

Good or not?

[emmie]

i don't live under the flight path of any airport, so not sure, but it had environmental implications, sure the good folk who live round the other airports have their views, mostly negative, seeing the disruption, noise it will cause to have another runway..

[Gromit]

It was going to cost 2 x HS2 and benefit the most prosperous part of the country. Financially, politically and constructionly, it was never going to happen.

[Baldric]

///To cope with the increasing number of passengers flying into the UK, one of the new runways must be operational by 2030, according to the commission. The second should be up and running by 2050.///

When they say Passengers, do they mean Immigrants?

[dave50]

Well I hope they are going to get on with it and not spend the next ten years listening to the Environmentalists and greens whinging on about it. Just do it!

[youngmafbog]

//and benefit the most prosperous part of the country//

East London ?

[LazyGun]

Cannot work it out. No direct involvement, since not living near to any of the flightpaths. The economic arguments seem confused, with cases being made on either side- development vs keep everything as it is now. The Island airport did seem costly, last time I looked.

Given the number of runways at all the other major european hub airports - CDG Paris and Schipol etc, It does seem logical to have an additional runway at Heathrow, and that would seem the least costly option too.

[emmie]

they mean passengers, seeing a how the capital is one of worlds largest financial centres, and that to do business one must have the means for people to get here. I wouldn't like to be those living anywhere near an airport, bad enough as it is around here.

[emmie]

not east London, that wouldn't be the plan, there would obviously be good links between the proposed site, and by the way there is already good links with Stratford, on central line, Docklands light railway and many more rail services. Because of the Olympic park, that is why it doesn't take long to get their from central London,

[Gromit]

The economic effects of Boris Island will not just impact east London, it will benefit Central London and the South East of England - the most prosperous region of the country.

[emmie]

its is, but i think the environmental and costs outweigh it's use for a flight hub.

[emmie]

if the government were to site the HS2 project where it should start from St Pancras international station, that would save money, i wish i could print the letter i read last week from an architect who outlined how it would work, it was eminently sensible, cost saving, and environmentally better.
the reason i mention this is because sometimes the powers that be have to think outside the box,

[emmie]

this is it, sorry it's a bit off thread, but interesting i think

http://www.camdennewjournal.com/letters/2013/dec/letters-hs2-terminus-should-be-st-pancras

[Gromit]

Then there is the £35billion second Thames Barrier that will be needed to stop Boris Island submerging when it starts to drizzle.

Not a cat in hells chance this was ever going to happen.

[jno]

I was a fan of Boris Island, though it may disrupt the home life of the tawny pipit or something. Needless to say, LHR and LGW have been frantically defending their right to destroy more countryside. The village of Sipson near Heathrow has already become little more than a transit camp; Harmondsworth, with its magnificent medieval barn, will be the next to be tarred over.

It is, as Gromit says, about London. There are airports all over Britain. Neither airlines nor travellers seem to want to go to them.

[Gromit]

// Neither airlines nor travellers seem to want to go to them. //

Not strictly true jno. Manchester Airport had 22million passengers last year and was the UKs third busiest. It also needs a third runway which has been muted for 10 years, but isn't going to happen any time soon.

[jno]

I exaggerated, sorry. None the less, all the evidence is there: people want to fly to London or through London. Heathrow gets 70 million passengers a year. Gatwick gets only half that, but is still way ahead of Manchester despite being miles away from town. If foreign travellers can't get to London airports they're more likely to choose Amsterdam or Frankfurt as alternatives rather than Manchester, since they're bigger international hubs (and don't have our absurd departure taxes).

In effect, like it or not, this is a London story rather than a British one.

[youngmafbog]

Yes, for this one siting an airport outside of London just wont cut the mustard with the traveller. To be honest when I go to Paris, Frankfurt, Bruxelles etc I dont want an airport miles away I go for the one as close as possible. When on business you simply dont have the time especially if doing a day trip.

A separate issue but I would like to see business encouraged outside of London, but it probably wont happen for the major financial sector at least where a London address, and even more so a City one, is prestigious.

[atalanta]

There is one Huge problem with Boris island.It is called the Richard Montgomery and it is the half-sunken wreck of an ammunition ship in the Thames. It holds over a thousand tons of High Explosive, and lots of other dangerous stuff. It has up to now been too dangerous to move or unload, and could explode at any time. If it did, it is possible that the London Tube could be badly flooded. Boris says he knows about the Richard Montgomery, and can fix it. So why hasn't he done so already ?
It's no secret, there is heaps pof stuff about it on the web

[jno]

atalanta, I don't think Boris has a budget for controlled explosions. He could only fix it as part of a budget for airport building (since transport is one of the few things under the mayor's control).

[boxtops]

I know I'm being parochial, but I DO NOT UNDERSTAND why Manston is not being considered as a viable option. It has a huge runway (it's used as a fog diversion airport for Gatwick and Heathrow if necessary), it's on a good fast road, a spur would give it a dedicated rail link to the HS1 which already runs to Thanet. It would bring massive employment to a underemployed and disadvantaged part of the country. (Apart from which, it's only 20 minutes from my house so would avoid the 2-hour drive to Gatwick..... :-)