The government has unveiled proposals for further runways to cope with a doubling of air passengers over the next 20 years.
Plans potentially include three extra runways at Stansted, one more at Heathrow, and regional hubs in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cardiff.
An airport with the potential for four runways is also being considered at a partial marshland near the River Thames at Cliffe in north Kent.
Further expansions at airports such as Bristol and Birmingham, along with conversions of RAF bases in Yorkshire and East Anglia, could also be brought forward to cope with a doubling of air passenger numbers from 180m pa to 400m by 2020.
However, plans for a runway at Gatwick have been put on the back-burner due to a non-expansion agreement which prohibits further growth until 2019.
The proposals will go out to consultation ahead of the publication of the government’s White Paper on aviation due next year.
Transport secretary Alistair Darling said: “We have the fourth largest economy in the world based largely on our ability to trade. Something like a third of exports go by air.”
“Frankly, doing nothing is not an option.
“If we went down that route, we would undoubtedly put the country’s increasing prosperity at risk, we would cause air fares to go up and we would not actually be dealing with what is a very real problem.”
The Conservative’s new shadow transport secretary Tim Collins said he recognised the need to expand capacity but questioned whether the government had over-estimated future growth.
Stephen O’Brien, chairman of London First, said that the proposals were “essential”.
He added: “London is the financial centre of Europe but depends on multinational companies maintaining and expanding their activities here. If London fails to provide a world-class air service, they will go elsewhere.
“While traffic figures for Heathrow only went up by 3.8% on 2000, they rose by 11.2% at Charles de Gaulle in Paris and 7.6% at Frankfurt airport.”
He added: “If we do not tackle this problem we will fall foul of the same problems as the rest of the transport system.
“We will be spending time and money meeting a backlog rather than building for the future.”
The government’s consultation paper states that proposals to add three new runways to Stansted and an additional runway at Heathrow would take up 3,459 acres (1,400ha) of green belt, and require the demolition of 460 homes, three scheduled ancient monuments and 73 Grade II listed buildings.
The airport at Cliffe would require 4,942 acres (2,000ha) of green belt and result in the destruction of 1,100 homes and nine listed buildings. It would also infringe on a protected marshland made famous by Dickens in the opening chapters of Great Expectations, which is home to rare birds.
EGi News 24/07/02
