It might sound like something out of science fiction, but Boris has thrown his weight behind plans to build a fourth London airport in the Thames Estuary.
The plans would remove the need for a third runway at Heathrow and would see a brand new twenty four hour airport built between Kent and Essex by 2030.
The Mayor commissioned Douglas Oakervee, the engineer who planned Hong Kong’s island airport, to draw up blueprints for the estuary airport. It would cost an eye-watering £40 billion (compared to the £9billion needed to expand Heathrow) but the idea is at odds with his own party who don’t want any increase in aviation in the south-east.
More environmental and engineering feasibility studies are to be carried out but Boris can expect to encounter opposition from environmentalists (and some in his own party) at least equivalent to that directed at Heathrow’s controversial third runway….
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