"tim....." wrote in message
...
"Bill" wrote in message
...

Any one got any ideas or alternatives to either a third Heathrow
runway (Gawd help us all, a bigger and even less efficient Heathrow)
or 'Boris Island' in the Thames Estuary, which would cost as much as
our nuclear deterrent replacement...

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I think that we should build a second runway at Gatwick.

It will affect a tiny fraction of the people that the extra runway at LHR
will affect and already has better rail connections and serves a more
populous non London catchment than STN.

I agree with Simon Jenkins from what someone posted on a different group
this morning:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...willy-politics

That is, we do not need extra runways to create a bigger hub. If the aim
of the extra runway is to create growth then that growth is not helped one
tiny little bit by people in-lining airside. if (however) London business
does need more runway capacity for origination and terminating passengers
that does not need to be at LHR and LGW is just as good IMHO


But a second runway at Gatwick is not possible until 2019 at the earliest:

"The construction of any new runway at Gatwick is ruled out before August
2019 by a legal agreement between BAA and West Sussex County Council. The
agreement applies to whoever owns Gatwick, and could only be overturned by
legislation which would need to be passed by both Houses of Parliament. The
House of Lords might well refuse to pass such a Bill.
The legal agreement merely reflects the physical constraints of the site.
They will remain when the agreement expires."

I am aware that BAA no longer own LGW, but that does not in any way affect
the legal agreement.
--
JohnT