The government’s airport conundrum

There is a growing acceptance in government that the South East needs more airport capacity. But, as today’s Times outlines, there’s nowhere near agreement on how best to achieve this.

The big problem with a new airport on the Kent coast or ‘Boris Island’ is that the Dutch would not be prepared to open up the necessary air space. They control most of the air above the North Sea under international treaty because of Schiphol airport. I understand that feelers put out to the Dutch on this matter have been rebuffed.

Another option is Heathwick. The idea is that an extra runway is built at Gatwick and then the two airports are joined together by a high-speed rail line. Initial work suggests that journey time between the two airports would be just 15 minutes. The problem is, the high-speed line would almost certainly face local opposition.

That brings us back to the whole question of a third runway at Heathrow. But with Putney MP Justine Greening as Transport Secretary and given how much of a big deal David Cameron made of his opposition to it, it is hard to imagine the Coalition U-turning on this one.