WATCH: The Airports Commission decided against a new hub airport in the Thames Estuary because it was on the wrong side of London and would have been too costly.
Commission chair Sir Howard Davies, outlining his reasons behind the Commission’s rejection of the Thames Estuary option, dubbed ‘Boris island’ said: “We looked very hard at the proposals for a new airport in the Thames Estuary which would have the advantage of pushing noise away from congested communities, but we concluded it was not a plausible option.”
Davies added that building in the Thames Estuary would be hugely expensive requiring a completely new transport network involving public expenditure of £30-£50bn.
“It also would not be in a good place from a national point of view. London is between it and the rest of the country, so its catchment area is much more difficult,” he said, adding: “There are also very serious environmental obstacles to constructing an airport in the Thames Estuary.”
Davies added that the Commission’s task, set by the Prime Minister, was to make recommendations to maintain the UK’s position as the most important global aviation hub in Europe.
The Commission concluded that this was not possible without new capacity in London and the South East because Heathrow was completely full, Gatwick was nearing capacity and all the other airports around London would be full by 2040.
Expanding regional and other south east airports around London, such as Stansted, was not ideal because they couldn’t “substitute for hub capacity in an airport in London” which is the biggest market for aviation in the world.
“A hub airport provides a network of connections which is very important from a business and national connectivity point of view. A regional airport system cannot duplicate that kind of network,” Davies said.
“So we concluded that you did need an additional runway in London and the south east and that’s why we invited comments on which place would be the best location for that expanded capacity.”
He added the Commission had received more than 50 proposals for extra airport capacity and had narrowed those down to three key options – two proposals at Heathrow and one at Gatwick.
nathan.cross@estatesgazette.com
