View Full Version : Impact of new London Airport
Today's paper carries news that our joke transport secretary, Stephen Byers, will today tell parliament of a new site for a possible new airport - at Cliffe, east of Gravesend.
The resulting TMA expansion will no doubt effectively wipe out operations at my home airfield, EGTO, and would probably add to complications at EGKB. What a nightmare.
The only good news is that it will probably take years to come to fruition. Let's hope:. .1. Medway council show their customary hostility to aviation, and. .2. AOPA lobby hard on our behalf.
Who has control?
1st Mar 2002, 13:53
I think you will find that the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) have just succeeded in in buying a large chunk of Cliffe Marshes.
Sorry, but this time, I'm rooting for the feathered ones.
I believe that we need a orbital rail system that connects to all the main lines into London, a main-line rail station at Hearthrow and a greater use of airports away from London, SND, Manston, Farnborough etc.
SteveR
1st Mar 2002, 14:58
I doubt if those f**kwits in the LibDem and Labour parties on Medway Council would be hostile to such an idea. As you of course know, they want to shut EGTO to build a 'science park' and hope to use the rents raised to pay their enormous wages bill. (Actually, they'll fail miserably to attract the businesses, and be 'forced' to put up loads of houses instead).
They'll be overjoyed if there's any truth in this - they'll be able to tell us poor EGTO residents, and their constituents "We'll shut EGTO and you can all move to lovely new premises just at the bottom of the ridge".
There's little difference in the minds of the average (very, very average) Medway Labour / LibDem Councillor between a PA28 and an A320.
(I reckon any news out of Byers and his dept at the moment is smoke to try and deflect attention from the man himself).
. .You don't mention which paper, and I heard nowt on my radio this morning - if any PPRuNer hears anything else please share it with us on this thread. (Hopefully it'll just go away - with the planning inspectors' report so imminent, and already leaked, we don't want this muddying the water still further. We want the local plan to be modified to remove the closure of EGTO - in accordance with the planning inspector's wishes and 85% of local residents).
SteveR
SteveR. .Agree with your sentiments re Medway & with Byers smokescreen. Is lead article on front page of FT, and is also in white Times. Have not checked anywhere else. FT also points out that NATS would have large problems with a major airport in the Thames Estuary area.
Of course we will need a 4th London airport just to provide the slots for Blair Force One!
SteveR
1st Mar 2002, 20:06
Apparently it also made Capital Radio and some other stations - so the Byers smoke machine is working well. The tower at Rochester has fielded a lot of calls about it today, and I daresay Meridian will carry it tonight.
Just what we needed.
SteveR
ps. NATS needs more problems......
DKosky
1st Mar 2002, 23:08
The BBC site is carrying this story
<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/england/newsid_1848000/1848586.stm" target="_blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/england/newsid_1848000/1848586.stm</a>
. .I certainly wouldn't like EGTO to be closed either <img src="frown.gif" border="0">
bluskis
4th Mar 2002, 01:40
Joke politicians or not, the possibility is that another major airport in the SE will happen, and will totally block routes for GA VFR traffic except for some highly dangerous funnels.. .Let's hope the controllers are more Heathrow than Stanstead or GA will be strangled.. .My thoughts are that a low level radar service for ALL traffic, to be required to be on the same frequencies,is an inevitable saftey requirement.. .I am not sure I would want to be one of the controllers though.
chrisN
4th Mar 2002, 05:06
The Cliffe idea may well be just one of several alternatives to make it look like they are considering several options before they do what is already decided and build a second runway at Stansted, plus maybe a third.. .. .It's a refinement of the 1979-84 tactics to do Stansted in the first place. In 1979 the Government announced that Stansted was to be the 3rd London airport. In 1982 they appointed a planning inspector to hold an inquiry into the alternatives which included Maplin, Cublington/Wing, a 5th terminal at Heathrow, etc. as well as Stansted. . .. .The 5th terminal at Heathrow was rejected because BAA said it could never be built as there was an immoveable sewage farm in the way.. .. .The inspector looked at all of the others before recommending Stansted in 1984, of course, but with only 1 runway. Meanwhile BAA had been buying up the local land to provide for both - why wait for the decision as it was already really made?. .. .As soon as Stansted was approved, BAA set about getting the immoveable sewage farm moved to make way for the Heathrow 5th terminal - which they no doubt wanted all the time, but after Stansted not before. Now they have that approved, it's back to plan A - 2nd runway at Stansted, for which they have now probably bought enough land.. .. .A new exit from the M11 to Stansted is well under way, causing havoc, but it will be nicely ready in time to prove to the future planning inquiry that there will be enough road access for Stansted's 2nd and 3rd runways, whereas there is insufficient infrastructure to support any of the other "alternatives".
A and C
4th Mar 2002, 13:20
The medway airport plan is just a smoke screen to make the extra runways at the other London airports more atractive to joe public.
Saab Dastard
4th Mar 2002, 16:50
Agree that smoke screen and making expansion of existing airports look more attractive (or less offensive) seem the most likely reasons for attempting to plonk an international airport into a bird sanctuary. (Well, if you don't want it there we'll have to build a 3rd runway at LHR). .. .Can anyone enlighten me as to where a 3rd (technically 6th & 7th) runway could / would be built at Heathrow, and for what purpose? I just can't see where they could put it!. .. .Cheers. .. .SD
Technically 7th & 8th surely? Or is the 'little' one one-way? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="smile.gif" />
Saab Dastard
5th Mar 2002, 02:42
Yup, there are "no entry" signs at the 05 end! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />
A and C
5th Mar 2002, 02:51
The new runway at heathrow will be to the north of the airport roughly at the site of the heathrow VOR this land has been open fields for years and so has been earmarked by the planers for some time as if it had not the pressure for building land at heathrow would have ment that it would of been developed by now.. .. .Unfortunatly it will mean the end of sipson vilage as this stands in the path of the new runway.
newswatcher
5th Mar 2002, 17:44
chrisN,. .. .I think you will find that the sites you mentioned were brought up in the Roskill Commission report(1968-1970). The Tory government eventually went for Stansted, but only after Roskill preferred Cublington/Wing, with Colin Buchanan dissenting in favour of Maplin Sands!
Saab Dastard
5th Mar 2002, 18:57
A & C,. .. .Thanks - . .. .Anyone any idea as to how it will be used? 3 parallel ops or a spare for maintenance? Presumably the A4 will have to be sunk below new taxi-ways. A minor inconvenience!. .. .I live to the south of LHR, so I'm just glad it's not coming my way (not that I'm a nimby or anything!). .. .SD
A and C
7th Mar 2002, 13:39
I am going to speculate now and say that the runway will be shorter than the other two and be used by the short haul aircraft and i think it is likly to be conected to the main airport by two taxiways across the A4 and the runway is likly to bridge the M4 spur.
Somebody at work today told me that Southend was being considered and he heard that on the local radio, Medway or Invicta FM. .. .Rex
Who has control?
11th Mar 2002, 12:53
Southend wants to increase the length of the run-off areas at each end of the runway to comply with the latest CAA requirements for passenger jet operations. There is a railway at one end and a church at the other, so the plan is to move the church. But they they are only looking at B737 sort of size though.. .. . <a href="http://www.southendairport.net/" target="_blank">Southend Airport</a>
Red Four
13th Mar 2002, 15:47
I don't think Stoke Microlight strip on the Isle of Grain would sit well with a 4 runway International airport as a near neighbour. (unless two of the runways are for microlights!! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" />