Heathrow doesn't need another runway
It doesn't. It needs less passengers, not more. The location of Britain's busiest airport is ridiculous: carved into the side of West London it brings mass congestion to the area of an unsustainable level. It also means myriad planes end up taxiing over London and making their landing descent over South London. If you were to design the way to ensure maximum casualties and deaths when a plane falls out of the sky that would be it.
Business complains that delays at Heathrow are damaging our economy; our ability to host meetings of international partners. Aside from the fact that most of these meetings are nothing more than junkets and could easily be replaced by tele- or video-conferencing, the conclusion that another runway is the answer is dumb: what's needed is a more punctual, reliable transport hub. Reducing the number of passengers to the level it was designed to handle would achieve that.
And for the excess passenger load that would be displaced, and the extra load predicted for the future, why not build a new airport in the large, open, flat area of Essex close to the M25 and Thames estuary and give it a bullet train to central London? In fact, Heathrow could be closed altogether and replaced with such an airport. Planes would then taxi and descend over the North Sea, not London, and that large piece of prime real estate in West London would be freed up for better uses, such as housing, business, shops and such like, whilst an underused (often disused) part of London's surrounds would replace it.
Business complains that delays at Heathrow are damaging our economy; our ability to host meetings of international partners. Aside from the fact that most of these meetings are nothing more than junkets and could easily be replaced by tele- or video-conferencing, the conclusion that another runway is the answer is dumb: what's needed is a more punctual, reliable transport hub. Reducing the number of passengers to the level it was designed to handle would achieve that.
And for the excess passenger load that would be displaced, and the extra load predicted for the future, why not build a new airport in the large, open, flat area of Essex close to the M25 and Thames estuary and give it a bullet train to central London? In fact, Heathrow could be closed altogether and replaced with such an airport. Planes would then taxi and descend over the North Sea, not London, and that large piece of prime real estate in West London would be freed up for better uses, such as housing, business, shops and such like, whilst an underused (often disused) part of London's surrounds would replace it.
I'm not at all convinced that mass tourism is great anyway. Everyone I know that lives in London doesn't enjoy having to get around masses of tourists; and each of us have surely been abroad and felt as uselessly in the way as a tourist ourselves in other oversubscribed destinations such as Barcelona or New York. Maybe one holiday abroad a year, or even every couple of years would be more sensible, and enjoyable, as we'd appreciate the break more, be able to splash out a bit more on it, prepare more and arrive in a place that's more exotic for being mainly locals instead of almost all tourists like yourself.
But that is a another argument and one I don't think will be swept up with undying enthusiasm by the majority. The point is we have to think big about Heathrow and international transport. Cobbling together quick fixes every 10 years for Heathrow's growth will never solve its problems. And its problems are mainly because it was built in the wrong place, and never meant to handle the numbers it does.
But that is a another argument and one I don't think will be swept up with undying enthusiasm by the majority. The point is we have to think big about Heathrow and international transport. Cobbling together quick fixes every 10 years for Heathrow's growth will never solve its problems. And its problems are mainly because it was built in the wrong place, and never meant to handle the numbers it does.
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