Originally Posted by
golfbananajam
Sorry RJ, I fail to see the national benefit in this.
LHR is one of the few true airport 'hubs' in Europe, serving a variety of routes that wouldn't be financially and sometimes operationally viable from individual regional airports. The new runway provides both additional capacity to facilitate domestic flights, and a number of specific measures to enhance connectivity. They outline some of these in their document 'Heathrow Bringing Britain Closer' (search this on google, I can't yet post links)
Irrespective of the debate on if the UK should grow routes from regional airports, the nation will have better access to the world through LHR expansion - albeit with a connection.