Boris vows to fight on for Thames Estuary airport, calling Heathrow third runway “political kryptonite” and Davies Commission “irrelevant”
London mayor Boris Johnson will continue fighting for a Thames Estuary airport- despite the idea being ruled out Sir Howard Davies' Airports Commission today– calling the organisation “irrelevant” and a third runway at Heathrow “political kryptonite.”
In a statement from City Hall, Johnson said he “cannot conceive of any possible scenario in which a government would approve the expansion of Heathrow".
Johnson believes the government will return to plans for a new hub airport to the east of London, and “any future recommendation made by the Davies Commission will be irrelevant".
The London Mayor, who recently announced his intention to stand as the Conservative candidate for the west London borough of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, said he and his team will continue to make a case for the island airport.
In one myopic stroke the Airports Commission has set the debate back by half a century and consigned their work to the long list of vertically filed reports on aviation expansion that are gathering dust on a shelf in Whitehall.
Gatwick is not a long-term solution and Howard Davies must explain to the people of London how he can possibly envisage that an expansion of Heathrow, which would create unbelievable levels of noise, blight and pollution, is a better idea than a new airport to the east of London that he himself admits is visionary, and which would create the jobs and growth this country needs to remain competitive.
It remains the only credible solution. Any process that fails to include it renders itself pretty much irrelevant, and I’m absolutely certain that it is the option that will eventually be chosen.