Now his officials are drawing up proposals to close it and replace it with a 24-hour airport located on an artificial island in the Thames estuary
About time too ! I've espoused this idea for a long time, and especially after BA038 in Jan. What if the failure had happened just minutes earlier ? Large jets full of people over central London all day every day is just ASKING for a tragedy to happen eventually.
UK's prevailing winds are usually westerly, so great majority of approaches would be over open water. Distance wise it would not be much further from central London than Gatwick or Stansted.
What an opportunity to plan, design, and build an airport for the Capital which really could serve for most of the next millennium !