UK airport expansion: Boris Johnson claims 'political fix around Gatwick'
Thames estuary airport more efficient in long term, says London mayor, who described expanding Gatwick as 'a delusion'
Email
Boris Johnson: 'A lot of money is moving off Heathrow and on to Gatwick … Gatwick is more deliverable but it is not the right answer.' Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
A "political fix" is putting Gatwick airport in pole position to get a new runway, London mayor Boris Johnson claimed, as he appealed to theAirports Commission to take a longer view and reconsider building a new hub.
The mayor has submitted a new dossier to the commission, which had made its scepticism over his favoured plan of a Thames estuary airportproject clear but revised its timetable to allow Johnson to address critical questions.
Johnson said it was time to stop "making do" and haphazardly expanding existing airports, adding: "We must ensure that the final outcome is not one that future generations will regret."
The mayor claimed 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".
Johnson's favoured inner Thames estuary airport plan, promoted by architects Foster and Partners, would cost about £25bn to build, with £25bn extra needed for surrounding transport infrastructure, and an additional £14bn to purchase and shut down Heathrow, which would be redeveloped as a new suburb.
However, the mayor's team claim much of this money could be raised from the private sector, while new infrastructure would be an inevitable government spend to meet the needs of an expanding population in east London, whether or not a new airport was built.
The Thames estuary case focuses on London's forecast growth, to 11.3 million people by 2050, and the additional jobs and homes moving the hub airport could produce. The submission claims the new hub would generate £7bn a year in economic benefits and would be commercially viable with a relatively modest increase in landing charges – rejecting the Airports Commission's estimates that the cost of building in the Thames estuary would mean fees triple those at Heathrow, driving up fares.
Foster and Partners' artist impression of a four-runway Thames estuary airport capable. Photograph: Foster And Partners/PA
Johnson's latest evidence included studies conducted for Transport for London by the Civil Aviation Authority showing that a third runway at Heathrow would bring the number of people exposed to severe aircraft noise to more than a million, with areas from Kensington to Deptford caught within its noise contour. Referring to recent comments made by a Heathrow board member and major shareholder, Qatar Holdings' Akbar Al-Baker, that locals would get used to plane noise, the mayor said: "Mr Al-Baker very brilliantly highlighted both the problem and the solution. Many people felt their experience didn't accord with what he was saying. Doha is building a hub away from the main population; it was very helpful because he showed what needed to be done."
According to the mayor's team, building the Thames estuary airport at a similar remove from the capital would expose fewer than 30,000 people to aircraft noise. Johnson said: "The brutal, ineluctable facts of geography mean that we as a country will come round to this in the end."
While Sir Howard Davies left the Thames estuary proposal off the original shortlist, political pressure resulted in a fudge whereby the commission requested more time to consider the idea of a brand new, four-runway hub in east London. Davies will announce in September whether the estuary plan remains in contention with the other three schemes. As well as Heathrow and Gatwick airports' own blueprints for an additional runway, the Heathrow Hub group has drawn up a scheme to lengthen the west London airport's two existing runways to effectively create a four-runway operation.
The commission will give its final recommendation in June 2015. No political party has promised to implement its findings. Johnson, who may yet be in a parliamentary role when a decision is made, said: "I will respect the findings of the Davies commission but I will not abide by them."
No comments:
Post a Comment