[SimonS1]

Boris says it will never happen. Battle lines being drawn already.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33341548

[canucklad]

Surprise, surprise, 3 long, expensive years to recommend ………..Ahhh “Yes minister” indeed Carajillo2Sugar….and now it’s

Ding Ding………Round 3 of Sir Humphrey V Malcolm Tucker in the political equivalent of “Crumble in the NImbyJungle, or if you prefer Shriller in the VanillaShires”….

Time for the BBC & Evening Standard to line up the following characters…….

A bearded, Jesus sandaled middle class refugee from the “Good life” proclaiming the end of the world as we know it is nigh…
Or a more localised coffin dodger shufflie claiming that being forced out their home will put them 1 step closer to their maker, usually this’ll be a granny holding a cute toddler
Boris buffeting our brains with bombastic bluster about something or another with some toff called Zac standing next to him , strutting about like an emperor waiting for his new clothes…together making . London’s equivalent of Zig & Zac…so to speak. ,
David , doing the Westminster version of the Potomac 2 step , answering everything and nothing but sounding incredibly statesman like as he does it.
And if all else fails…. Nigel can always be trusted to blame it all on the influx of foreigners

And by the time we get so fed up listening to the bleating’s of the above, as G&T so aptly states, openflys prediction will come true. As for me, I’ll be long dead having spent most of my cash at LHR’s rivals before I depart this earth my spiritual means and not mechanical…..…… Job done politicians……

[AnthonyDunn]

G&T

A fine piece of minute writing if I might say.

[PeterCoultas]

G&T – lovely and very much a great summary of the report!

Can I suggest an instant solution – the only sufferers will be those idiots that bought houses under the flight path. Open up for continuous use over 24 hours (the tube can do it so why not Heathrow)

This would provide almost a third extra flights and about the same as a third runway but with none of the construction costs.

[LuganoPirate]

Nice one G&T. Peter’s solution could be a good one, since virtually everyone who has bought a house knew full well it’s under the flight path and, err, planes will land and takeoff over them. If you don’t want the noise then you should not have bought there and then clamour for restrictions and compensation.

The only downside is I can’t see many business travellers booking a 4 am departure to Brussels or returning from Geneva to arrive at 2am. Public transport would also have to operate to/from the airport 24 hours as well.

[SimonS1]

I’d be surprised if there was continuous use 24 hours a day. Even with some 24 hour tube services, transport logistics to the airport aren’t great during the night with few train services running at night.

I’m sure the people under the flightpath would argue that when they bought their houses they did so on the basis of legal restrictions in place on the number of night time movements.

The main complainants might be the large group of Conservative MPs with constituencies in the area. Now it has rid itself of the LibDems the govt has a very thin majority and a few MPs going native might prove tricky. It didn’t take Boris Johnson long to get round to the BBC this morning…..

[transtraxman]

A long awaited report lands with a thump. Its size is formidiable – I hope the intention is not to drown us with detail.
However, the devil, as always, is in the detail. Just to give one example is the following on domestic connections. However, take note that while there is a committment to legistate against air and noise pollution, and on the prohibition of a fourth runway, there is no firm committment about promoting and protecting domestic connections. It is all mentioned as a passing observation

Howard Davies emphasises the need of the extra runway for the whole UK. In this piece, in the report, he points out the necessity of maintaining regional domestic links to Heathrow. In 1995 there were 15 domestic UK destinations. These have been pushed out so are now reduced to 7.
“Howard Davies on the benefits to the whole country of an expanded Heathrow airport”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMbrbv08JBg

On the other hand Heathrow Airport itself promises to increase the number of domestic destinations from the present 7 to 16.

http://your.heathrow.com/airports-commission-recommends-heathrow-expansion/

There are other flaws which will have to be looked at. One of which is the situation of the New Terminal (will it become the new T1?). Its logical position is over the Heathrow Express/Crossrail line into central London with a new station incorporated.

In fact Heathrow´s design for the third runway leaves a lot to be desired.

[pheighdough]

This announcement can not come as a surprise can it?

When you look back at the DfT lead Heathrow consultation that ran in winter 2007/08 as well as a series of roadshows around Heathrow culminating in central London, the design and location look very similar to the ‘hot off the press’ announcement this morning, so one can assume that this design was never off the agenda and that due process was followed to reach a conclusion that was actually decided 8 years ago.

[BigDog.]

At PMQ today, Zac Goldsmith noted £20m spent on a study with a forgone solution then challenged Cameron to make a statement.
DC responded that it was a thorough document that deserved to be thoroughly read.

mmmm Yawn.

[canucklad]

Sadly pheighdough, it’s not a surprise at all, as predictable as our trains being delayed today because of the rising temperatures
We slag off the French for striking at the drop of the merest croissant …… and yet we allow our establishment to become procrastination experts, plundering tax payers money whilst at the same achieving nothing……

7 /8 years that cost god knows how much, to reprt back what we already knew…classic

[pheighdough]

Following on from my earlier post, I’ve managed to find the archived documents from 2007/08.
Click: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100202110633/http:/www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/archive/2008/heathrowconsultation/consultationdocument/

It should contain the whole suite of documentation. You can draw your own conclusions.

[Charles-P]

I was hoping with the election out of the way and the Lib Dems no longer causing the Conservatives problems that the government would grasp the nettle, show some backbone and make an announcement that would in real terms say,

“We commissioned a report, they reported and we are going with their recommendation”. Instead we have the usual attempt to try and keep everyone happy on a spectrum that has bark eating, tree huggers at one end and rabid Capitalists at the other not one of whom has an interest in the needs of the country as a whole.

There are times when benign dictatorships seem to have merit !

[SimonS1]

Give it at least 6 months then.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33341548

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Well considering the politicians aren’t capable of taking long term decision then let’s have a referendum and let people decide (Swiss seem to do it quite well).

Otherwise it’ll be 4214AD by the time anything of major importance actually gets decided by a UK government, which by then will probably be in Edinburgh as the Scots decided to invade England and claim the territory for Scotland.

[GrahamSmith]

Cameron promises runway decision this year:

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/101820/cameron-promises-runway-decision-this-year

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