I've been wondering why there has been less promotion of a site just norht of the M4 between Reading and Maidenhead, or just south of it between Maidenhead and Bracknell.
There is space there for a 4 runway airport, plus it would have;
- Simple connections to the West Coast mainline and Crossrail, providing a truly integrated transport hub for the benefit not just of London but also the South coast, West country and Wales.
- Direct links to the M4 and either M3 or M40, meaning that traffic from the south and west could stay off the M25 car park.
- Flights could be routed to take off and land between the major population centres, meaning that less people would be affected by a 4 runway super airport than currently are by 2 runway LHR.
- There is no need for reclaiming land from the Thames, nor to uproot the entire economy along the M4 corridor to Kent.
- The LHR site could be made into 'Heathrow Garden City' which I have seen proposed elsewhere, creating dwellings for thousands of people
Problems? Well of course there are some;
- Inevitable demolition of some existing dwellings (but probably no more than at Sipson which provides only one extra runway, not 2)
- The still unanswered solution of how you force the closure of a private airport which just so happens to be the world's third busiest?!
Of course the solution is not perfect, but as far as I can see it the country desperately needs a 4 runway airport (which cannot be built on the current LHR site) but which is on the west side of London (ruling out, among other reasons, the estuary option).
Thoughts?!