Estuary Airport back on agenda

London Conservatives publish 167 page scoping document on air travel today

The two-faced Tory attempt to rubbish the idea of an Estuary Airport with polling, has suffered a major set back this weekend as the London Mayor released a 167 page scoping document on the necessity for additional airport capacity.

The paper which includes detailed breakdown of economic flows makes it clear that the Birmingham option is not sustainable over the medium term and rubbishes the 'Heathwick' proposal.

The publication of this report comes conveniently after the appointment of Justine Greening MP who has been vociferously opposed to any further development at Heathrow, which could put any plans to expand Heathrow/Gatwick on hold. The paper makes clear the option for Birmingham is a non-starter due to mid-term capacity problems. Medway Tory Councillors had, this blog believes, been briefing the press informally that this option was potentially the likely outcome...

Daniel Moylan, the Deputy Chairman of Transport for London, is leading on aviation matters for the Mayor.

“Several ideas have been put forward to try and address our increasing lack of runway capacity. But I remain to be persuaded of there being any workable solution other than the creation of a new hub airport. And the obvious location for a 24 hour airport with the least possible impact on the local population is the Thames Estuary. A true ‘airport city’ of the type never seen before in the UK would provide the capacity we need and provide vital support to the UK economy.”

Outrageous view from the Conservatives. Atypical attitude we have seen over the last couple of months which show the simply dont care about the ecological and historical significance of Medway heritage.

If this proposal is put down into a white paper the three Tory Councillors on the Peninsula should do the honourable thing and become independents so that they can fight any proposal without hindrance to Party loyalty. The public are already cynical about why this proposal is still on the agenda after years of internal Conservative conversations.

This blog made clear a mere 48 hours ago that we are now at risk of having an airport agenda foisted upon us. Our local MPs and Councillor's have been utterly ineffective, and have opposed campaigning proposals, which could be an argument for saying they are trying to protect their electoral base. This ineffective campaign posture could have allowed this airport proposal to gain ground over the last four years.

In 2008, the proposal was merely for an island airport in the Estuary, but local Conservatives have allowed, via support of the Conservative Party ticket in London, the slow and rathet like slippage of an on-site option on the Peninsula. A proposal which is causing severe distress to residents and which could impact house prices in the area.

Our Tory MPs need to get a grip; a clear and unequivocal statement from Justine Greening MP that no scoping or consultation paper will be released on any proposal for an airport in North Kent.

Any deviation of this position will lead residents to think they have hoodwinked us for four years over on an idea which the community has overwhelmingly rejected.

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