please empty your brain below
March 2021: Bojo PM? Let's hope assisted euthanasia is legal in the UK by then, or did you mean Jo Johnson? How can 2 brothers differ so much, one a self serving buffoon and the younger a calm sensible bloke?

Oh no! | 26.06.18 - 8:00 a.m. | #

The problem with deciding what to do about expanding London's airport capacity is that no mater what the decision, someone will go to court over it.

I wonder if the government's promise to streamline the legal process for large infrastructure projects after the Terminal 5 public inquiry will actually achieve anything.

Jon Jones | 26.06.18 - 8:07 a.m. | #

In the meantime China is embarking on a massive airport expansion programme, including a new SEVEN runway airport for Beijing currently under construction.

I'm glad I don't live somewhere where things can be built so easily, with no regard to local residents etc, but in this country the balance is too far skewed in the other direction surely?

And in terms of the climate change effect, this is a pinprick when compared to the expansion of aviation elsewhere in the world (especially China, India and the rest of Asia)

Mikey C | 26.06.18 - 8:54 a.m. | #

I'm guessing all the benefits go to the Spanish owners of the airport, and the costs fall on us taxpayers.

RogerB | 26.06.18 - 9:37 a.m. | #

@RogerB

The returns to the owners of Heathrow are regulated by the CAA, who set prices based on an agreed investment and rate of return. As a result it's a relatively low risk business with steady returns.

That the owners are Spanish is irrelevant. It's the same mechanism that held when BAA owned Heathrow and was first privatised.

There are certainly flaws with that model, and the risks of expansion certainly lie in the public sector almost entirely, but it's pretty transparent and has nothing to do with who owns it.

Eric | 26.06.18 - 9:46 a.m. | #

So they gave the go ahead for a massive increase in carbon dioxide emissions, while simultaneously scrapping the Swansea Tidal Lagoon renewable energy project. :(
The "Greenest Government Ever" my ar$e.
It's going to be a complete nightmare. :(

Boris will huff and puff, but I wonder just how much of his "commitment" was just political posturing.
I'm betting he will abandon Uxbridge & South Ruislip at the next election and stand somewhere where they don't want to push him in front of a bulldozer - if such a place exists!

Cornish Cockney | 26.06.18 - 10:17 a.m. | #

As I understand it, the largest single impact that most people can make to reduce their carbon footprint is not to fly.

But of course as Chris Grayling says we can rely on mythical future technology to solve that. Presumably from the same white-coated boffins who will create a technological solution to solve the problem of the Irish border in time for tea.

Andrew | 26.06.18 - 11:01 a.m. | #

Three points:

1. I thought that you wrote everything at dead on seven o'clock every morning?

2. The makers of Becks must be rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of the massive extra profits as a result of you going to the pub.

3. You haven't mentioned Foulness/Maplin Sands Airport* or visited the proposed site. Get your finger out DG.

*You might actually have referenced it in your links but I haven't clicked on any of them because I'm an internet know-all with the attention span of a newt.

milliem | 26.06.18 - 11:18 a.m. | #

Southend, Lydd, Biggin Hill and Oxford all claim to be London Airports.

kev | 26.06.18 - 11:24 a.m. | #

congratulations on the night out

Caz | 26.06.18 - 12:03 p.m. | #

...and to think some people have never been on a plane or travelled aboard.

Grumpy Anon | 26.06.18 - 12:17 p.m. | #

@Mikey C: The probldm of China is that there ard simply too many people. To their credit, they try to honeycomb the place with high-speed rail before airports, and there are probably more "state" land than you believe around cities. (holdouts are not uncommon in China)

Patrickov | 26.06.18 - 12:17 p.m. | #

I think it is only right that DG be allowed a night off. As this excellent summary suggests there is much excellent writing in the DG archive to dip into, including on this most contentious of subjects, which I can see both sides of. Of course some people may support a third runway but of course some may not, and I thank DG as ever for his illuminating insights.

Malcolm | 26.06.18 - 1:04 p.m. | #

Within sight of where I work a model of the putative airport at Maplin Sands was created in the 1970s (actually two models, one in a now-demolished building).

The organisation has the same sort of status as TRRL but sadly unlike TRRL doesn't seem to do public open days.

John Styles | 26.06.18 - 1:47 p.m. | #

The scrapping of the tidal lagoon is nothing to do with greenness. The price is way too high: the same money could save far more CO2 emissions if used for building more offshore wind farms (for instance).

There may be some doubt about whether the (future bill-payers') money will actually be used in that way, but that is a different question.

Malcolm of Kent | 26.06.18 - 2:40 p.m. | #

@milliem

Go back to Youtube, and leave your condescending comments there instead.

Dave Sanders | 26.06.18 - 4:29 p.m. | #

Another solution at https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2015/09/06/unbuilt-london-the-kings-cross-airport/.

Not only does this add a direct airborne dimension to the omniconnectivity of KXStP, it also at a stroke solves DG's aversion to the retail-bloat of present development. Combine with state-of-the-art acceleration technology from the Large Hadron Collider and you could have plane-pods whizzing round the periphery into the air in a fraction of a nanosecond.

Elon Musk and Beardie up your Hyperloops!

Strabismus | 26.06.18 - 7:44 p.m. | #

March 2019: Lack of a Brexit deal evaporates any demand for flying to the UK. HAL's profits nosedive and they require a government bailout to get the runway built.
March 2020: having run out of money, the government mothball the plans until the economy improves
May 2025: a small amount of money has accumulated in the Government Infrastructure Fund. The new transport minister allocates it to the Croxley Rail Link, quietly binning the Third Runway plans.

martin | 27.06.18 - 6:06 a.m. | #

That's a super model, Strabismus. Is it just a part, or is it one someone in the Blue Peter team finished earlier?

Martin (not the one above; another one) | 28.06.18 - 5:18 p.m. | #











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