tim... wrote:

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 19:30:49 on Sun, 25 Sep 2016,
tim... remarked:

The issue with LHR being London's main airport in the wrong place is
"should it have been moved before T4 was given permission"

IMHO the answer to that is "Absolutely"

Where would you have put it?

You just have to find somewhere

I'm sure that there are (were) lots of viable options

I don't think there were, even back then. That's why we've had multiple
airport enquiries and commissions, but haven't come even close to choosing
a new airport site.


Bear in mind that Maplin Sands, and several other sites had been rules out
already, so you might have only Stansted on offer. And that already had an
active set of pressure groups opposed to even any extension of its status
as the third airport.

Of course there are going to be pressure groups. But that's what politics
has to cope with that makes it hard

you have to overrule the pressure groups to do what's best for the country.

So you might just as well expand Heathrow. It will cause far less trouble
than attempting to build a major new 4-runway airport anywhere in the
southeast.


It's what happened in all other places that have moved their major airport

This would have been in 1980, all arguments would all be forgotten by now
and London's airport provision would be in a better place than it is now

London isn't short of airport capacity. It's just short of capacity at
Heathrow. Stansted and Luton have plenty of spare capacity, Gatwick has a
little, and Southend could handle many more London flights.