Plans for ‘Boris Island’ airport revealed
04.11.11
Plans for an airport in the Thames Estuary have been unveiled by architect Lord Foster, the man behind Stansted and Hong Kong's Chep Lap Kok airports. London Mayor Boris Johnson is a supporter of a new airport in the Thames Estuary, nicknamed the 'Boris Island' airport, and Lord Foster has said that he believes it would be a viable project to build a hub on the Hoo Peninsula on the Isle of Grain, 55km from London.
The plans are for an airport with four runways, capable of handling 150m passengers a year, almost three times the capacity of Heathrow. It would be connected to London by high-speed rail, which would take 30-minutes. There would also be rail services to the Midlands, the north of England, Suffolk and Essex from the UK's largest train station, to be built below the airport.
Lord Foster said his project would deliver lasting social, environmental and economic benefits and improve the lives of the 5m people who live under the Heathrow flight path. He said: ‘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.’
A spokesman for the Boris Johnson said: ‘The Mayor is delighted that a distinguished figure like Lord Foster agrees that the answer to Britain’s aviation needs lie in the (Thames) estuary. This idea is taking off and rightly so because Britain’s economic future relies on strengthening our ability to connect with the great growth economies of the globe.’
But opponents say an airport there is hazardous because of the presence nearby the site of the largest liquefied gas terminals in the world. The leader of Medway Council has dismissed the plan as ‘daft.’
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