The government has wasted MILLIONS by launching a consultation which included total non-starter options like Rugby and Cliffe.
But it was local residents who chose to take the bait and take them seriously.
Projections are very difficult to get right however they are modelled - but one thing we know from the predominant form of transport (the car) is that high fuel prices combined with high taxation does NOT stop growth in road use. It might slow it down, but we have been building towns for the last 50 years on the assumption that the majority of people will have cars to get around them. It will take another 50 years to modify this trend.
Personally, I think that the runways proposed for STN, BHX etc, are white elephants - but if they are built, it will be private money which funds them. That might mean that BILLIONS get wasted, but that is not the government's problem.