So, Heathrow........

Cliff

Heathrow Airport runway decision delayed until summer - BBC News

So its official, into the long grass. Kicked down the road (and any other metaphorical phases you can conjure up).

Boris was excellent on Sky news tonight, and summarized the whole Heathrow expansion pretty well. The extra runway would just ease congestion and we would need further expansion, so not a proper solution anyway.

As everybody from environmentalist to local households, picturesque village residents are against it, what hope is there .
Apparently expansion has been discussed since 1940 and nothing much has been done

Anyway looks like Dave will be out of office by the time it comes up again.
Looking forward to Boris taking the helm.

Enki

It's about difficult Conservative MPs, and while the Conservatives play politics, the competition keep chipping away and will bring Heathrow to heel.
The picturesque villages that border the M25 M3, A320 etc. Virginia Water, Egham maybe Chertsey or Shepperton. Noisy they are, environmental damage was done years ago with all the gravel pits for road networks.  However, the area has excellent transport links and they could be better!

Cliff

Lets see if, and its a very big if, Boris makes it to Conservative leader then he can have a proper solution that can last the next 50 years. Forget Heathrow as a hub. It can still be used for freight, a to b travel, business hops to Europe etc. So jobs can be maintained.

But Boris as PM should come true and start building his Thames Estuary airport. I actually put a lot more faith in what Boris says that Dave

thefragile

Im quite happy for the new runway to be built at Heathrow, but its solely due to NIMBYISM..... I live ten mins from Gatwick.

domtheone

Agreed.

At least he has a vision and is looking further ahead than the next ballot box

Caught a brief interview with him yesterday and he's dead right when he says by the time the 3rd runway at LHR is built, the place will be full again and they'll be discussing a 4th

Enki

"Who needs Eric Cantona, we've got Barry Horne, (Sardonic scouse wit!) is what I used to chant on the Gwladys . Boris Johnson, is your Barry Horne!

tapzilla2k

Boris may get lucky and get the job if that bullying scandal engulfs Osborne and co. I don't think Boris has been involved too much in the Tory election machine of late.

Have you seen the estimated costs involved ? It's near the £100 billion mark and would probably end up costing significantly more than that and be delivered late. The cost to wildlife is also too high and the risks of bird strikes would also likely be significantly increased, regardless of countermeasures taken. Then there is the small risk of a North Sea Storm Surge damaging or destroying the airport. It's a dumb place to put an Airport in a tidal river estuary .

London requires some significant and costly infrastructure projects, not least an eventual replacement for the Thames Barrier. The Thames Estuary Airport is a Boris vanity project, nothing more and nothing less. Heathrow is the logical choice, it won't be taken due to voters in that part of the country not liking it for legit reasons. So Cameron kicks the can further down the road.

Cliff

There is no good place. Its a dumb place to put an airport like LHR where people live. Think of the noise...And the consequences of a crash in heavily populated areas. Everybody has an objection.

But offshore airports using land reclamation have been built elsewhere and is a solution near cities where there is no spare land left.
This is not a Boris vanity project- your just saying that because he is a Tory and has a far sighted solution

By the way if he ever gets it built, then he has every right to take credit and I wouldn't mind him being vain in the slightest.  So much better than all the Gordon Browns, Tonys, Daves and Zacks that have done nothing or hindered the inevitable.

If you want to take something away from Boris, let me just say that the idea of an estuary airport at Foulness was proposed when Boris was in short trousers.  It was shelved in 1974

phil t

Mind you, the surrounding areas to what is now LHR, weren't that heavily populated before the airport was built!

johntheexpat

One thing I haven't really seen discussed in any depth is the tidal surge/climate change impact on Boris Island.  I was under the impression that the south east of the UK was (admittedly slowly) sinking which was one reason the Thames Barrier was essential.  Coupled with a very high tide and the right weather conditions, (low pressure over London, high pressure over the northern North Sea) then the tidal surge would, even now, swamp London.  Then add higher seas due to global warming and anything could happen.
I assume someone somewhere has done a study if Boris Island is a serious possibility?