Civil Aviation Authority backs airport

Tory Boris endorsing the destruction of the Peninsula

Another week and another public body comes out to endorse the proposal for an airport in the Thames Estuary

It seems the endless march to the inevitable paper in April is all but certain to include plans for airports on the Peninsula, an island close to the Peninsula and at Southend.

Full Council on Thursday will consider a badly written and rushed paper on the airport which shows that Cllr Rodney Chambers has been forced into a LEP (Local Enterprize Partnership) Group which does not actually discount an Estuary airport. Indeed, he is sitting alongside Paul Carter who actually wants an airport in the Estuary.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) - that government sponsered quango with responsibility for airways - today advised Government that without a credible, long-term Aviation Policy Framework that focuses and allows capacity to develop sustainably, it is likely that prices will rise, route choice will drop and the UK economy will suffer.

Andrew Haines, CAA Chief Executive

“Additional capacity would offer significant benefits for consumers, and for the UK as a whole, so long as it is delivered in an environmentally sustainable way. However, as we haven’t built a single runway in the south east of England capable of handling Boeing 747s and Airbus A380s for over 70 years, the difficulty of increasing capacity is obvious. This underlines the importance of an integrated policy framework that addresses environmental and planning dimensions as well as consumer need.

“However, in the South East, although a number of measures will help improve use of existing facilities and increase flexibility and resilience; these are essentially short-term fixes and are not enough to maintain the UK’s direct access to global markets alone without additional runway capacity. As such, developing appropriate additional capacity would deliver significant benefits to consumers and wider benefits to the UK economy."

Nothing was mentioned about the flight path issue which a number of Conservative Councillors for some reason think is important. All flight paths could br managed; oh well one argument demolished almost instantly.

Of course play back 12 months ago and all three Conservative MPs were stating it would never come to a government paper; the failure for them to grasp the nettle is now obvious for most to see. The low-key and shocking Medway Conservative campaign 'pie-in-the-sky' was a joke and deliberately kept as such to get Tories elected.

The biggest people to be let down are those on the Peninsula who were cuddled by Ashcroft and the Conservatives over the plans for Grain, [which were nowhere near as developed], but which opportunistic Tories spun into a position for electoral gain. We all remember the posters designed to look like independent ones and the sheer volume of fibs about Bob Marshall-Andrews to curry a few votes...

Well its payback - from all those voters whose house prices are falling, who are insecure about the future and who have totally lost trust in their Conservative representatives. The more Tories ignore this issue the tighter the screws will turn...

This blogger has spoken to independent parish councillors, chairman and residents and the simple fact is they have lost faith in Mark Reckless to have any influence over the airport process - many think his head is with the European issue and not focused on domestic problems.

Any MP with any thought would be running to endorse the airport in Birmingham now that HS2 has been accepted. Birmingham wants a new mega-airport and the rail network gives them an opportunity.

Tracey has run away from it and Rehman barely mentions it. CCHQ look like they have given them media advice, but unfortunately the about turn is visible for everyone to see; waxing lyrical about the airport in August and September to be silent in December. Come off it; get a grip

The House of Commons meets on Thursday to discuss Transport Questions; will any of our MPs seek assurances that the airport will not be in the paper in April?

I will put a bottom dollar that they wont, and even if they do, will get a flagrantly unsubstantive response which they wont challenge.

Over the next couple of days and weeks Medway Conservative MPs will be challenged. They can stop this charade of ignoring local issue after local issue and back Labour on a consistent position on the airport.

We will see whether they back the people or whether they shirk their responsibilities