It's welcome news that the government is now seriously looking at the idea of a new aiport for London in the Thames estuary, or Boris Island as the press have termed it. I prefer Johnson's Jetway, but then I have a weakness for alliteration.
This blog has long been a supporter of the idea. I wrote about it here back in the winter of 2010 when Heathrow had managed to cause chaos after a bit of snow thanks to underinvestment and treating a prime national asset as a shopping mall and cash cow.
But that is not the only reason why we should be looking at a new airport. Heathrow is full and a national embarrassment. It is also, thanks to an accident of aviation history, in entirely the wrong place, in a built up area where it is difficult to expand or to improve the surrounding infrastructure. It has an enviable safety record for which we should all be thankful. But being where it is any accident would be catastrophic as the near miss of that BA flight a couple of years ago demonstrated.
Successive governments have looked at the issue. Some have even seriously considered a new airport to the east of London. None have ever had the courage to take the brave but ultimately logical decision to forge a new path and create the capacity that London so desperately needs, especially as we now need to be connecting to up and coming cities around the world. This, rather than pointless high speed railway lines, is what this government should be investing our time and treasure in.
I suspect that there is a real public interest in and appetite for a scheme like this if the interest in my own blog posts is anything to go by. Cynics are suggesting that all of this is just an attempt by the government to bolster Boris in the run up to the mayoral election. Even if that is the case, surely the fact that this is seen as a positive means that a new airport scheme would be popular and a sensible project for government backing. Britain needs to be bold and imaginative if we are to grow and prosper in the 21st century.
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