http://www.bbc.co.uk/coast/images2/prog8_montgomery_masts.jpg
LONDON’S LACK OF
PLANS FOR NEW RUNWAYS - LORD FOSTER JOINS CHORUS OF CONCERN
3rd November, 2011
John Barrington-Carver writes: Architect Lord Foster has joined the
increasing chorus of business people and aviation industry experts voicing
mounting concern about the runway capacity bottleneck facing London and the
South-East. This week Lord Foster has given
another airing to the UK’s lack of ability to compete in future with rival
European airports particularly Paris, Frankfurt and Schiphol (Amsterdam). He has unveiled an alternative (four runway)
airport in Kent by the Thames Estuary.
Built partly on The Isle of Grain and on reclaimed land the airport does
at first appear to have advantages over London Mayor Boris Johnsons’s floating
airport. Importantly flight paths would
be almost all over the sea so reducing noise pollution for local residents.
BUT and it is a big BUT, there are a number of practical
considerations to take into account.
·
The Isle of Grain is home to a huge Liquefied
Natural Gas terminal which from the artist’s impression of the proposed airport
published last November would be just yards to the west of the main runways and adjacent to taxiways. The prospect of a plane crash on or close to
the LNG terminal does not bear thinking about.
·
The whole of that part of the Thames and Medway
Estuaries is sacred to the RSPB and the local wetlands are used by thousands of
migratory birds; never a good mix with high
speed jet aircraft on take-off and landing despite the relative robustness of
modern jet engines.
·
Possibly, if the airport were to be shifted
across the river Medway to the Isle of Sheppey it would reduce the risk to the
LNG terminal ; also Sheppey appears from Google to have ample reclaimable
marshlands as well as farmland space for
it.
·
Furthermore as an alternative Sheppey already
has good road access to mainland Kent and the M2 motorway plus a single track
rail link to Sittingbournethus potentially linking the airport with the
existing Eurostar rail to London (and the Continent). However the RSPB have the Elmley wetlands
nature reserve right in the development area for the airport and the political
clout of the RSPB should not be underestimated!
·
It is also interesting to consider whether the
proposed additional Thames Barrier could have serious environmental consequences
for the Isle of Sheppey and the Medway and Swale Rivers. If the new barrier were to be closed and a
tidal surge occurred forcing water back into the Estuary not only to the Isle
of Grain but up the Medway, the Swale and Isle of Sheppey, it could result in
the inundation of both sides of the Thames Estuary.
·
A major consideration for any airport located off
Sheerness is the 1944 wreck of the ammunitions ship the SS Richard Montgomery lying
on the Nore sandbank off Sheerness which
would be in the flight path of the Lord Foster
runways. Its masts still
visible, the corroding wreck contains 2,000 cases of cluster bombs, nearly 600
500lb bombs and more than 1,000 1,000lb bombs.
Should it detonate it’s suggested the blast would hurl a 1,000ft wide column
of water, mud, metal and munitions almost 10,000ft into the air and drive a 3
to 4 foot tsunami across the estuary.
On paper the Lord Foster proposal seems an elegant solution
to the serious problem of London’s lack of runway capacity, but already there
are voices raised in opposition citing the points above. It’s also certain that given the UK’s NIMBY
attitude that plans would be fought all the way - even if the billions of investment required
can be raised.
With Heathrow operating at 98% capacity and Gatwick
restricted by covenant to one runway
until 2019, what Lord Foster has done is
draw further attention to the dire need for more runway capacity in South East
England. Not only that but the urgent
need for a bold resolution to the problem if the UK is not to lose its
competitive edge economically and fall behind its European rivals.
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