""The minority report from the Roskill commitee opened with the statement that made that very point and recommended that Cubblinton should be the site, not the Maplin sands, for the 3rd London airport. However I have a feeling that nowadays Maplin is about the only place that would stand any chance.""
I agree, but Cublington was thrown out on environmental grounds and popular opposition even 35 years ago - remember "no wings at Wing" ? It was then that Maplin (ne Foulness) was reconsidered (it had been one of the three options under Roskill). Maplin was dropped due to the mid-1970s economic crisis, and so we then went with expanding LHR, LGW and later STN.