The Airports Commission has published 50 proposals on how to solve the UK’s lack of hub airport capacity with Heathrow already operating at full capacity.
The commission, headed by Sir Howard Davies, today (August 7) released details of all the submissions it has received on how and where to increase long-term airport capacity in the south-east.
Many airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Birmingham have already made their proposals for expansion public during the last few weeks, ahead of the submission deadline last month.
While London mayor Boris Johnson through Transport for London has also submitted three possible options including two sites for a new hub airport in the Thames Estuary (Isle of Grain and Boris Island) as well as an expanded Stansted.
Luton has also made its case to become the UK’s new hub airport by expanding to four runways. The airport argues that any new hub should be located to the north of London as it will be more accessible to greater parts of the UK.
Other possible sites for a new hub airport include:
- London Medway Airport, on a site north of the village of Cliffe in Medway, Kent
- Goodwin Sands, a group of sandbanks off the Kent coast, close to Deal
- Foulness Island, in the Thames estuary close to Southend-on-Sea
Away from London, proposals have also been made for an expanded Cardiff airport which would be linked by a high-speed rail line to London and Heathrow, and a new airport in the Severn estuary replacing both Cardiff and Bristol airports.
There are also several suggestions for improving connections to existing airports such as extending the Crossrail rail project to Stansted, or turning London into a Hub City by enhancing transport links between the existing airports and the city centre.
One proposal suggests creating a new “Universal Hub” train terminal at Farringdon in central London which could serve all of region’s major airports.
Several private individuals have also submitted their ideas for increasing capacity to the Airports Commission.
The commission is now inviting comments on all of these proposals. It will then draw up a short-list of the “most credible long -term options” which will be revealed in the commission’s interim report to be published in December when it will also make its recommendations on the UK’s overall need for extra hub airport capacity.
“There will be further opportunities to comment and submit views on these short-listed options in 2014,” added the commission, which is not due to present its full report until after the next general election in summer 2015.
Comments on the proposals can be sent by email to [email protected]with the deadline for comments of September 27.
For more details about the commission’s work and the full submissions, click here