EGCA:
Build second runway at Birmingham, run HS2 via Heathrow, and Birmingham is then probably nearer to Heathrow than Gatwick timewise.
Oh, yes? Just where exactly will this runway go?
The whole problem with BHX is that there is no room there at all, sandwiched as it is between the A45 and the town center, with the runway pointing completely out of wind. (If you want to see some exciting landings, put your anorak on and go to BHX or LBA.)
In fact, what needs to be done here, is while they are building Silver-Boris, someone needs to close BHX completely and move the whole ensemble down to Gaydon. There, they will find a 4,000m runway, pointing into wind, with no noise problems, that can run 24 hr, and no flights will fly over the city center, right next to the M40 and a mainline railway. Job done, as they say.
They could then create a whole new suburb of Birmingham on the vacated airport site, which could hold at least another 400,000 people (or the number of people that will immigrate to the UK this year.)
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