78-640: Thames Hub may refer to: Thames Hub integrated infrastructure vision , a proposal for infrastructure development in the Thames Estuary in the United Kingdom Thames Hub Airport , a proposal for a new platform-based hub airport on the Isle of Grain Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
156-518: A Thames estuary airport since before taking office. In November 2008 the mayor appointed Doug Oakervee (executive chair of Crossrail ) to lead the Greater London Authority's preliminary feasibility study which determined in October 2009 that there is "no logical constraint" to the plan. The proposal has acquired the popular nickname of "Boris Island", and is frequently referred to as such in
234-486: A combination of new long-range aircraft and the emergence of networks centred on a global hub, such as Dubai. The trade spine would include rail links and utility cables. High-speed services would reduce journey times significantly from the cities of the Midlands and North to the cities of continental Europe. By rail, it will take approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes to reach the new Hub Airport from Leeds or Manchester . As
312-593: A corridor 100 yards wide and over 30 miles long. The cost would be a then-astronomical £825 million (£8,448 million today), which many – particularly in the Labour Party, which was in opposition at the time – regarded as unacceptable. The Maplin airport project was abandoned in July 1974 when Labour came to power. A reappraisal of passenger projections indicated that there would be capacity until 1990 at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton, aided by regional airports. The scheme
390-560: A half miles long and was intended to operate 24 hours a day. By 1960, it was becoming apparent that further air capacity was needed. Stansted , a former military airfield in Essex , was proposed as a third airport in 1963. A Government White Paper endorsed Stansted in 1967 and in 1968, after an inconclusive public inquiry, the Government appointed Hon. Mr Justice Roskill to head the Commission on
468-562: A journey time of 26 minutes. The site was selected for its proximity to London – at 34 miles (55 km) from the centre and close proximity to HS1 , the airport could be reached in 26 minutes by high-speed rail . The proposal to build the airport on a platform, like those at Chek Lap Kok in Hong Kong and New Doha International Airport in Qatar , would allow flights to take off and land over water, significantly reducing noise impacts and enabling
546-450: A major airport, but a deep-water harbour suitable for the container ships then coming into use, a high-speed rail link together with the M12 and M13 motorways to London, and a new town for the accommodation of the thousands of workers who would be required. The new town would eventually cover 82 square miles, with a population of 600,000 people, while the surface route to the airport would require
624-575: A proposal for an airport at Maplin Sands in Essex. When the commission reported in 1970, the government decided to reject its advice for an airport at Cublington and instead decided to promote an airport at Maplin Sands. However this was abandoned in 1974 as a consequence of the 1973 oil crisis . Options for an estuary airport were considered in detail by the Labour Government as part of its work in preparing
702-407: A relief airport for Croydon. A rapid growth in air traffic during the 1950s led to Gatwick becoming London's official second airport in 1954 to accommodate the overspill from Heathrow. Neither location is ideal – the prevailing winds over Heathrow mean that flights have to approach the airport by flying over London, and growth of the city means both airports are now located in built-up areas. In 1943
780-524: A site at Cliffe on the Hoo Peninsula in north Kent as the leading contender among potential sites for a new airport for London. The proposal was for up to four runways arranged in two east-west close parallel pairs, with a possible fifth runway on a different alignment, which might be used only at night and in particular weather conditions. In December 2003 the government decided against the Cliffe proposal on
858-446: Is a great chance to start with a blank page and adopt a design-centred approach to a major piece of infrastructure.... The fact that Lord Foster, as a globally-renowned, sustainability-aware designer is initiating this project is hugely positive - what’s needed now is to bring together those on all sides to explore how such an exciting project could work financially, environmentally, logistically and politically." Wired UK magazine called
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#1732844000425936-602: Is a proposal for a new approach to integrated infrastructure development that combines rail, intermodal freight logistics , aviation , tidal renewable energy and its transmission , flood protection and regional development in the Thames Estuary and connects this infrastructure to a trade and utilities spine that runs the length of the UK . It was developed by architects Foster + Partners , infrastructure consultants Halcrow and economists Volterra and launched by Lord Foster at
1014-560: Is no overflying of the coast. Beckett Rankine claim that for these reasons the Goodwin Sands are the most sustainable site available for a new hub airport. Thames Estuary Airport A potential Thames Estuary Airport has been proposed at various times since the 1940s. London's existing principal airports, Heathrow , Gatwick , Stansted , and Luton are each sub-optimally located in various ways, such as being too close to built-up areas or requiring aircraft to fly low over London. In
1092-410: Is not on politically, and a coastal site is not on economically." Duncan Needham argues that the challenge of airport expansion at Maplin provides direct parallels with airport expansion following the 2006 Department of Transport strategy and debates by policy makers in the subsequent UK governments regarding a proposed third runway at Heathrow . In 2002 a Department for Transport study identified
1170-634: Is to expand Manston Airport . The airport, situated in Thanet , in north east Kent, is relatively close (15 miles) to the Port of Dover and the Eurotunnel Folkestone Terminal and because of this proximity its supporters claim that it could become a hub for arrivals and departures between the UK and Europe and beyond. They also argue that, compared to developing a new airport, expansion at Manston would: a) reduce
1248-622: Is unaffordable and is certainly greater than this initiative". The Environment Agency believes that it will have to upgrade the Thames Barrier some time after 2070. The Agency estimates that the rise in sea level in the Estuary over the next century, due to thermal expansion of the oceans, could be between 20 cm and 88 cm and in a worst-case scenario could be more than 2.7 metres. London's radial passenger rail network makes it difficult for rail passengers to travel around Outer London and
1326-635: The 2003 Air Transport White Paper . However the White Paper announced the government's decision not to progress an estuarial option, but to approve plans for a new third runway at Heathrow. In 2008 Boris Johnson the Mayor of London announced plans to carry out a study for an estuarial airport in the Shivering Sands area, north-east of Whitstable . The feasibility report, produced in October 2009 by former CrossRail Executive Chairman, Douglas Oakervee (who led
1404-552: The Chancellor of the Exchequer 's 2011 Autumn Statement on 29 November 2011, confirmed that in consulting on its aviation strategy in March 2012 the Government "will explore all the options for maintaining the UK's aviation hub status, with the exception of a third runway at Heathrow." Conservative Party Deputy Chairman and Kent MP for Sevenoaks Michael Fallon told BBC Radio Kent that
1482-663: The Institution of Civil Engineers in London on 2 November 2011. A more developed proposal for a platform-based Thames Hub Airport , located on the Isle of Grain in the Thames Estuary in Kent , was submitted to the Airports Commission in July 2013 by Foster+Partners . The Thames Hub concept was developed to address a number of infrastructure challenges facing the UK. These include: In
1560-494: The Isle of Grain . The on shore portion of the site will require the removal of several villages and the relocation of the recently constructed Grain LNG terminal. The airport will accommodate long-haul airline schedules and growing demand in the Asian market. Thus it will reassert London's geographical advantage as the stop-off point between North America and Eurasia, which is being eroded by
1638-657: The Mayor of London ) is a proposal for a 4-runway hub airport to be located on the Isle of Grain in Kent. The airport was part of the Thames Hub integrated infrastructure development developed by architects Foster + Partners , infrastructure consultants Halcrow and economists Volterra and launched at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London on 2 November 2011. Thames Hub combines rail, freight logistics, aviation, energy and its transmission, flood protection and regional development in
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#17328440004251716-438: The " Boris Island " proposal championed by Boris Johnson , the then Mayor of London . Economic considerations have so far ruled out a new coastal airport, while political considerations have ruled out a new inland airport, leaving planners with an as-yet-unresolved dilemma. On 17 December 2013 the "Airports Commission: interim report" was published. The proposal for an Isle of Grain airport underwent further study in 2014 before
1794-532: The 21st century". New Civil Engineer magazine devoted five pages of its 3 November 2011 edition to the Hub and in the following week it was the most popular story on its web site. The design magazine Design Week said that the Hub had "put the value of huge, design-led national infrastructure projects firmly in front of Government". It also quoted Mat Hunter, chief design officer at the Design Council , as saying "This
1872-571: The Chancellor's announcement gave a boost to supporters of a new hub airport in the south-east of England. In response Lord Foster on behalf of the Thames Hub team welcomed Mr Osborne's statement, saying: "We believe that the economic case for the Thames hub is compelling." Boris Johnson also welcomed the government's commitment to "an open debate to explore the capital's future airport capacity needs including
1950-594: The Estuary Airport, where demand is estimated as 400-600 GWh/year, allowing excess power to be fed back into the National Grid . The four track orbital rail route will closely follow the alignment of the M25 orbital motorway around London. For around a third of its length, the route would pass through tunnels, particularly in sensitive areas such as Epping Forest . It is estimated to remove around 4,000 lorries per day from
2028-472: The Estuary would be 5 kilometres long and 500 metres wide and would harness tidal flows to produce energy with zero carbon emissions. The tidal generation units can sit either on the estuary bed or on floating pontoons. Their proposed location is north of the Estuary Airport and to the south of the Yantlet shipping channel, the main container freight route to Tilbury Docks and the new London Gateway port. By occupying
2106-450: The M25 and would reduce the costs of continual motorway expansion and the maintenance demands caused by prolonged heavy use. The proposal envisages that the orbital rail route could be sunk by one metre into the ground. The excavated earth could then be used to build embankments alongside the track, within which energy and data cables could be laid, in order to provide acoustic shielding and reduce
2184-484: The Midlands and the North, maximising the impact of both. It also integrates with the new Hub Airport, allowing it effectively to serve the whole of the UK. Up to 60% of airport passengers will arrive using fast, frequent services from across the country The airport site was selected for its proximity to London – at 34 miles (55 kilometres) from the centre, it can be reached in 30 minutes by high-speed rail. The proposal to build
2262-658: The Protection of Birds oppose the plan, as do current London airports. Critics suggest the scheme is impractical and too expensive; Terry Farrell compared it to grandiose and unrealistic projects devised by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler . In early 2014 the UK Airports Commission , in its interim report, did not recommend the London Britannia proposal for further analysis. The Thames Hub Airport (like Shivering Sands, nicknamed "Boris Island" after Boris Johnson ,
2340-587: The Regulated Asset Base (RAB) approach – could provide a funding mechanism for the project. Such an approach is described in a paper for the European Investment Bank by regulatory economist Dieter Helm and how greater use can be made of RAB funding is being studied by HM Treasury . The project is estimated by its promoters to deliver £150 billion of economic and environmental benefits - £35 billion from rail and road transport, £35 billion from
2418-576: The Roskill Commission, Colin Buchanan , dissented on environmental and planning grounds and proposed an alternative site at Maplin Sands , Foulness , in the Thames Estuary. This opened the door to strong political opposition against Cublington and in April 1971 the government announced that the site at Maplin Sands had been selected for the third London airport, even though it was the most remote and overall
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2496-535: The South East without first going into Central London. In addition rail freight trains need to run through Central London to get between the Thames Estuary ports and the rest of the country. There have been proposals for a Thames Estuary airport since 1943. In 1968 Lord Roskill was appointed to chair the Third London Airport Commission, which considered options for a third London airport including
2574-400: The Thames Estuary and connects this infrastructure to a trade and utilities spine that runs the length of the country. The airport would be built on a platform straddling the land and sea off the Isle of Grain on the Hoo Peninsula . It would be opened in 2029 with an initial handling capacity of 110 million passengers per annum. It would be connected to London by a short spur off HS1 with
2652-400: The Thames Hub are: The proposal envisages a new flood barrier, about 18 miles downstream of the existing Thames Barrier, at Lower Hope between East Tilbury in Essex and Cliffe in Kent. The new barrier would provide protection to the year 2100 and beyond and result in a 150% increase in the area of land protected from flooding. The increased value of this land could be used to help finance
2730-531: The Thames Hub on the Thames Hub web site . In his Budget 2012 speech in the House of Commons on 21 March 2012, the Chancellor announced that the government would set out its thinking on the issue of retaining aviation hub status in the Summer, thereby delaying the promised March 2012 consultation document. Alternative, non-estuarial, options for providing additional airport capacity in Kent have been proposed. One option
2808-552: The Thames Hub proposal complements the UK Government's National Infrastructure Plan and provides a more integrated case than previous proposals for a Thames Estuary airport. The Thames Hub's vision is that integrated infrastructure development can provide benefits not just for London and the Thames Gateway area but for the whole of the country, hence the project's strapline "An integrated vision for Britain". The main components of
2886-456: The Thames Hub report, Lord Foster says that "We need to recapture the foresight and political courage of our 19th century forebears if we are to establish a modern transport and energy infrastructure in Britain for this century and beyond." In the accompanying video Foster talks about the consequences of inaction in relation to infrastructure planning and says that "the cost of doing business as usual
2964-627: The Third London Airport (the " Roskill Commission ") to review sites for a third airport. Cublington in the Vale of Aylesbury was its chosen site. It was seen offering the best access, as it was situated on the key London-Birmingham axis, it would be away from built-up areas and it would cost less than most of the alternatives. The proposal met with strong opposition from local people and more broadly from politicians and middle-class voters which made it politically untenable. One influential member of
3042-757: The Town. On 19 December 2012 consulting engineers Beckett Rankine launched an alternative proposal for a new hub airport, which they call Goodwin Airport, located on the Goodwin Sands . In the proposal's supporting website they claim that unlike proposals for sites in the Thames Estuary the Goodwin Sands are not in an environmentally protected area, do not require relocation of existing infrastructure (such as Grain LNG terminal or windfarms) and have enough space for in excess of runways separated sufficiently to allow independent operation. The runways at Goodwin can be aligned so that there
3120-455: The White Paper and ruled out further airport expansion of London's three main airports (Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted ). In March 2011 the government launched a 6-month public consultation exercise on its policy for a sustainable aviation framework. In August 2011 the DfT published new air traffic forecasts that predicted (in sharp contrast to those published by the previous government in 2009) that
3198-399: The aircraft designer Frederick George Miles of Miles Aircraft and long time associate, architect Guy Morgan suggested the construction of a new airport, including a flying boat base, between Cliffe and Allhallows . Intended to serve 8 million passengers per year, the cost of the scheme was estimated at £20 million. It was planned with a central Terminus, three concrete runways each two and
Thames Hub - Misplaced Pages Continue
3276-465: The airport on a platform, like those at Chek Lap Kok in Hong Kong and New Doha International Airport in Qatar would allow flights to take off and land over water, significantly reducing noise impacts and enabling the airport to operate 24 hours a day. Approximately half the area of the airport platform will be on reclaimed land extending into the Estuary, 7 metres above sea level, with the other half on
3354-420: The airport to operate 24 hours a day. The airport would accommodate long-haul airline schedules and growing demand in the Asian market. Thus it would reassert London's geographical advantage as the stop-off point between North America and Eurasia, which is being eroded by a combination of new long-range aircraft and the emergence of networks centred on a global hub, such as Dubai. The Thames Hub Airport proposal
3432-481: The airport, including tax revenues, £2 billion from environmental management and £75 billion from growth in the Thames Hub area. When the benefits are compared to the costs of the project this gives a Benefit Cost Ratio of 3 to 1, which is typically viewed as representing high value for money. The launch of the Thames Hub proposal on 2 November 2011 attracted widespread media comment, including coverage on television and radio and articles on web sites, in newspapers and
3510-410: The amount of taxpayer support that would be needed; b) result in less environmental costs; and c) help regenerate this relatively deprived area of Kent. However Manston is located 65 miles from Central London and the journey time from St Pancras by existing high speed Javelin trains to the nearest rail station at Ramsgate is 1 hour 16 minutes. This journey time could be reduced to under 50 minutes if
3588-544: The answer to Britain’s aviation needs lie in the [Thames] estuary." In November 2011 the Mayor published a study on the economic benefits of a Hub airport for London which referred to the Thames Hub as an "exciting development." Medway Council in Kent and local MP Mark Reckless announced their opposition to the project. Billionaire industrial designer , and founder of the Dyson company, James Dyson has pledged his support for
3666-450: The barrier location is in the middle of a tight S bend where strong tidal cross currents occur. While navigation channels would be incorporated into the barrier to allow ships to pass, negotiating the barrier would be a challenge for a large ship since it would still be recovering from making its turn while lining up for the barrier. Hydropower turbines could be integrated into the flood protection barrier. The proposed hydropower array in
3744-593: The capital to be reduced by up to an hour. In crossing the Thames Estuary, rail tunnels and local road links could be integrated into the flood protection barrier, similar in concept to integration of the Saint Petersburg Ring Road in the Saint Petersburg Dam in Russia . The Orbital Rail route would provide a missing link between the existing HS1 high-speed rail line and the proposed high-speed line to
3822-412: The case of Heathrow, the growth of air traffic has meant that the airport is operating at 98% capacity. Several locations for a new airport have been proposed in the Thames Estuary , to the east of London. These include Maplin Sands off Foulness on the north side of the estuary; Cliffe and the Isle of Grain in Kent on the south side; and artificial islands located off the Isle of Sheppey such as
3900-461: The construction of Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok airport on an island platform), concluded that there is "no logical constraint" to the plan. Although Kansai Airport in Japan is located on a man-made island in the middle of Osaka Bay , the Mayor's proposal was criticised as being too radical and is now commonly referred to as Boris Island . In 2010 the new Coalition Government reversed the decisions in
3978-481: The economic cost of not expanding capacity at Heathrow ranges between £900 million and £1.2 billion per year. Willie Walsh , chief executive of International Airlines Group , which owns British Airways (BA) the largest airline at Heathrow, has recently conceded that plans for a third runway at the airport are "dead" and that BA will now look to expand abroad. In his Mayoral response to the government's sustainable aviation public consultation, Boris Johnson highlighted
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#17328440004254056-548: The economy" and in his 'Commentary' for the paper Tony Travers , Director of the Greater London Group at the London School of Economics and Political Science and a regular media commentator, said, in relation to the London economy, "if this plan does not take off, decline is certain". The Daily Telegraph in its 'Comment' section said that it was "refreshing to see ambition reminiscent of Britain’s Victorian heyday in
4134-470: The fact that China's fastest growing airline was unable to operate at Heathrow due to a lack of airport capacity. The Institute of Directors has called for Government to be bold when drawing up its final aviation framework and to consider such ideas as a new hub airport in the Thames estuary. Simon Jenkins , Chairman of the National Trust has said that a Thames Estuary airport offers "the least harm for
4212-480: The final report was delivered in Summer 2015. Before World War II , Croydon Airport was London's principal airport. In 1943 the government built a new heavy military transport airfield on a rural site to the west of London near the village of Heathrow . It was converted to civilian use after the war and went into service as London Airport, later London Heathrow Airport , on 25 February 1946. Another airport already existed at Gatwick and had been used since 1930 as
4290-447: The government was looking seriously at plans for a Thames estuary airport. Leader of Kent County Council Paul Carter told BBC Kent that he wanted the government to look at other options - including locating the airport next to the Essex coast. However he said he could see that "there is a very good business case we don’t bleed away aviation business to Holland" by building a new airport close to London. The Financial Times reported that
4368-444: The government's Regional Growth Fund, Lord Heseltine said that ministers ought to seriously consider an estuarial airport. On 29 November 2011 the government announced that it would seriously consider "all options for maintaining the UK's hub airport status except a third runway at Heathrow " and on 19 March 2012 Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed that the Thames Hub would be one of those options. The promoters claim that
4446-675: The greatest gain". On 31 October 2011 to the Airport Operators Association, the Labour Party 's Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle announced that the Party had abandoned its support for a third runway at Heathrow Airport but said that the government must also drop its moratorium on new airport capacity in the South East. In a 27 November 2011 interview in the Sunday Times , former Deputy Prime Minister and current chairman of
4524-464: The grounds that the costs of a coastal site were too high, and there was a significant risk that the airport would not be well used. After 2008, the then Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, led scoping studies for a further airport in north Kent. Suggestions included the development of a major International hub at Cliffe which would link in with the HS1 line through Kent to St Pancras . The Cameron government
4602-485: The latest proposals for a new airport in the Thames estuary." The Financial Times said the Hub "could lead to the most radical overhaul of Britain’s transport, logistics and communication network since the building of the railways." The London Evening Standard's editorial said that it was a "welcome, imaginative contribution to the debate about the South East's aviation needs." Rowan Moore writing in The Observer
4680-491: The majority of future air traffic growth to 2050 would be accommodated at regional airports. These new projections have been strongly criticised by airlines because they seem to ignore the strong preferences by airlines to operate hub and spoke networks rather than offering point to point services. Recent studies published by the British Chamber of Commerce and Frontier Economics for Heathrow's owner BAA estimate that
4758-555: The most expensive of the options considered, and that planning would begin immediately. In due course the Maplin Development Act received royal assent in October 1973. In 1973 a Special Development Order was made under the Town and Country Planning Acts granting planning permission for the project, and the Maplin Development Authority was constituted and began its work. The project would have included not just
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#17328440004254836-505: The old Ashford to Ramsgate railway line, that makes up part of the HS1 route was upgraded to high speed standards, although the Department for Transport has no plans to do this at present. A further challenge for Manston is that the flight path from its single runway is directly over Ramsgate, a seaside resort of some 40,000 residents. The end of the runway is less than 1.5 km from the edge of
4914-492: The potential for a new airport in the Thames Estuary." A few days before the Autumn Statement several newspapers had suggested that the Chancellor was supportive of an estuary airport and the evening before the Chancellor spoke Lord Foster had made the case for the Thames Hub in a packed lecture at Oxford University 's Saïd Business School . To coincide with the lecture the Thames Hub team also released some new images of
4992-547: The press. A new iteration of the proposal named the London Britannia Airport was unveiled in November 2013. It was a proposed six-runway airport to be built on an artificial island, comparable to a similar approach taken with Hong Kong International Airport . The scheme was proposed by Testrad (Thames Estuary Research and Development), initially an agency formed by Johnson but now also involving other partners, and
5070-438: The project through an insurance levy on those areas protected, offering an early 'first win' for the Estuary development. Residential development on newly protected land east of Gravesend and east of Tilbury could provide homes for Thames Hub staff. To maximise efficiency, housing developments could be grouped to form an energy-efficient network of smart homes . Shipping in the Estuary would however be seriously affected because
5148-399: The project. Friends of the Earth announced their opposition to the project. The Thames Hub won Project of the Year 2012 at the Global Air Rail Awards, an international awards ceremony, supported by Airports Council International , dedicated to the air-rail market to recognise best practice in intermodal travel around the world. The National Infrastructure Plan 2011, which accompanied
5226-444: The proposal "ambitious". A Department for Transport spokesman was quoted as saying that the proposal was an "important contribution to the debate on the future of aviation" and that a Thames Estuary airport would "be considered as part of our wider review of aviation policy." Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, welcomed the proposal and a spokesman said that "He is delighted that a distinguished figure like Lord Foster agrees that
5304-440: The site is located in an internationally protected Ramsar site a key element of the proposal will be an environmental management strategy to compensate for the loss of wetland habitat and provide an equivalent area of new roosting and feeding grounds for birds. The project is estimated to cost £50 billion. The promoters state that it does not need to depend solely on public funding. Established private-sector funding models – such as
5382-409: The space between the airport reclamation and the shipping channel the units will present a hazard to smaller craft which currently navigate outside the shipping channel. Depending on the type of generation units used, there is the potential to generate up to 525 gigawatt hours (GWh) of energy per year - enough to power some 76,000 homes. Over a yearly cycle, the energy produced would be enough to supply
5460-417: The technical press. The Hub received extensive coverage on BBC News , BBC News web site and BBC Local Radio stations, such as BBC Radio Kent and BBC Radio Suffolk . It was the lead story on BBC London News 10.30pm bulletin and was the third story on ITV 's London Tonight . Most national newspapers were positive about the proposals. The Times referred to it as a "grand plan.... to revive
5538-536: The title Thames Hub . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thames_Hub&oldid=679327718 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Thames Hub integrated infrastructure vision Flood protection , Environment , The Thames Hub
5616-515: The visual impact of the railway, similar in concept to the use of the Ha-ha in garden design. New stations along the Orbital Rail route will be located close to existing junctions on the M25, making them accessible by two million people within a 10 kilometre radius. Using the Orbital Rail line to reach their final destinations and thus avoiding central London will allow passenger rail journey times across
5694-486: The years prior to 1990 by Covell Matthews Partnership , and a Thames Estuary Airport Company Ltd established to manage the project, under the direction of A. E. T. Matthews, Managing Director. The Isle of Sheppey proposal was revived in 2008 by Mayor of London Boris Johnson , located a little further to the east towards the Shivering Sands area, north-east of Whitstable . The deputy mayor, Kit Malthouse , supported
5772-399: Was abandoned in favour of a cheaper plan to enlarge Stansted rather than building an entirely new airport; the requirement for a container ship harbour was to be discharged by the development of Felixstowe . The dilemma regarding the location of an additional airport, whether inland or on the coast, was summed up by an airport expert quoted by New Scientist magazine in 1973: "An inland site
5850-480: Was committed to a full Aviation Review and a scoping study was released in March 2011. The "Marinair" proposal was put forward in the 1990s, in which an airport would be built on an offshore artificial island in the Thames estuary, north east of the Isle of Sheppey . When the proposal was put forward again in the government's 2002 consultation, it was rejected on the grounds of insufficient information and prohibitive expense. The Marinair plans had been developed in
5928-467: Was more cautious, citing critics who say that the airport could become a white elephant like Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Canada . Project magazine, the voice of project management, dedicated five pages of its February 2012 issue to the proposals. It described the project as a "great British project idea", which was aiming to deliver an "innovative and sustainable transport solution fit for
6006-504: Was rejected by the airport commission in January 2014 in favour of continued upgrades to Heathrow. This proposal would cost £47.3 billion and would mean the closure of Heathrow Airport . Proponents argue the scheme's big advantage is that it would avoid flying over densely populated areas and the noise pollution and other problems that causes. Some local councils and the Royal Society for
6084-558: Was submitted to the UK 's Airports Commission by Foster+Partners in July 2013 as a proposed solution to the question of how the UK can maintain its global hub status. The future remained unclear as the option was not on the Commission's original short list, but was still considered. It was finally rejected on grounds of cost (possibly as high as £100 billion) and environmental damage by the Airports Commission in an announcement made on 2 September 2014, leaving Gatwick and Heathrow as
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