This is the Mayor of London and TFLs view on the case for Manston Airport. It looks as if they have not given up on the idea of the Isle of Grain Hub airport! Thank you to contributor Steve Coleman for sharing. From: [email protected] To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: A New Airport for London Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 11:31:17 +0000 Dear Dxxxxx Thank you for your correspondence regarding considering the case for turning Manston airport into the UK’s main international hub airport, in light of the recent decision by the Airports Commission not to shortlist the Thames Estuary proposal. In 2012, Transport for London’s Aviation team considered many potential sites for a new hub airport. They short-listed around 20 options for further analysis. These sites were assessed against a set of criteria that were informed by a public consultation. Three sites performed most strongly against these criteria, and were developed as detailed proposals. One of them is the Isle of Grain. Manston airport was one of the sites considered in TfL’s first round of analysis. However, Manston was deemed an unsuitable location for a new hub airport for several reasons, principally: • Distance from London and travel times by rail and road: Manston is around 60 miles from Central London. International best practice suggests that city centre journey times by rail should be less than 45 minutes. Brand new high speed rail connections to Manston would struggle to achieve this. It would be a very difficult location for many to speedily connect to by road, and it is more remote from key areas of the Thames Gateway regeneration area, than sites further west. • The potential noise impacts: The noise impact of a large international airport can be immensely detrimental to those living nearby. This is one of the primary reasons why Heathrow cannot be expanded further. If Manston were to be expanded to provide the level of hub airport capacity that the UK requires, the effect on the neighbouring communities of Ramsgate and Margate would be profound. In comparison, a new hub airport on the Isle of Grain would not only be much easier to access for most, but it would expose far fewer people to potentially harmful levels of noise. The planned transport links will provide journey times of less than 30 minutes to a range of key central London locations. The Mayor’s view is that the Isle of Grain remains the best option to build a new hub airport. As you may have seen and heard in the media, the Mayor is not deterred from pursuing his vision, which predates the establishment of the Airports Commission by some years. Ultimately, the decision on how to solve the UK’s airport capacity shortage will be taken not by the Airports Commission, but by the next Government. It will not be mandated by the Airports Commission and will be mindful of the political difficulties that led the last plan for expansion at Heathrow to be scrapped. Similarly, it will recognise that a new runway at Gatwick will do nothing to increase long-haul connections to economically important cities in China and South America Thank you for taking the time to write to the Mayor on this important issue. Yours sincerely TFL Aviation Unit
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 10:11:08 +0000
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