Prophead - you're back to your default position of justifying R3 on operational convenience without regard to cost. IT IS ALL ABOUT COST. Circa £30Bn all-in is too much many times over. Despite wishful thinking, afew extra regional domestic flights don't come close to offsetting that inconvenient reality.
Lets look at some figures shall we:
Without using your predetermined overspend lets just use a figure of £15bn for the Airport part which is what seems to be agreed at the moment. (It may be much lower if the Aurora plan goes ahead).
This part of the project is privately funded. A figure of £15bn will probably give back a tax income on the construction of around 30% (probably more). Therefore this privately funded project will give the taxpayer £4.5bn or likely more.
After completion we have the boost to the economy created by this greater connectivity to the regions. The British Chamber of Commerce has said it would double cargo capacity and connect British businesses to up to 40 new long-haul trading routes. They say the project will pump £187bn into the economy, create up to 180,000 new skilled jobs and double the number of apprenticeships at the airport to 10,000.
So ask yourself what the taxpayer would end up receiving from that? Even halving that figure would bring significant tax income never mind the boost to the economy. Putting a new runway at Gatwick or Stansted will not give anything like this.
Now you talk about the road upgrades and TFL's £20bn figure. This is where the scrutiny should be focused. It would seem everyone is concerned about the privately funded part and nobody has asked TFL to break down these figures. The project is likely to be completed somewhere around 2030 if it gets the go ahead soon. As has been said many times the road network around that area will need significant upgrading whether LHR goes ahead or not. What we should be asking TFL is, how are their figures broken down? We then need to see those figures against spend should the airport not be expanded and how much will be saved by TFL over the next few 20 or 30 years by having an upgraded M4/M25 junction. Then we can add in the tax income from expansion and we will be somewhere near a true figure.
You still have not answered my question though Ozzy, How is scrapping a project that would be beneficial for the whole of the UK and building one only helping the SE a reasonable answer to the North/South funding imbalance?
This is the issue with using those big figures when arguing against large construction projects. It's the same with the £52bn figure regarding HS2. The true cost to the public is likely much lower. Taxable income from privately funded projects that then help grow the economy and modernise the country should be encouraged.