I’ve just come from the launch of the Airports Commission Interim Report. Sir Howard Davies, the commission’s chair eloquently, patiently and with a little humour took us through the reports findings.
Logic, graphs, bar charts, clarity of thought, and a clearly extensive fulsome consultation process build a sense of confidence. But this report is about airports and the proven (in the eyes of the commission) need for long term expansion of airport capacity in the South East of England – and that means the political wind will blow hot and strong as the report’s findings are picked over.
Indeed the political wind may have already blown; Sir Howard would not be drawn on the degree to which his recommendations reflect a certain realpolitik.
I have a copy of the Interim Report by my elbow – my skim read has been superficial at this stage – thankfully while I was listening to Sir Howard colleagues were giving the report the attention it deserves.
The options that will proceed for further consultation and consideration will be Gatwick and two runway options at Heathrow. Most of the Thames Estuary options have been ruled out as has expansion at Stansted – but one option on Kent’s Isle of Grain struggles on despite the report setting out a number of good reasons why it looks like a non-runner.
This second division status damns the proposal with faint praise and doesn’t follow, to a logical conclusion, the report’s own arguments to reject this option on cost, environmental impact and connectivity grounds. Sir Howard admitted it was a close call, but wanted to take a little longer (until the middle of 2014) to finish scrutiny of this proposal – disappointing as we’ve been watching estuary options be rejected regularly for over 60 years - it would be good (not least for the people of North Kent) not have to wait another 6 months to see this dangerous option rejected.
A telling inconsistency in the report is that one reason Stansted was rejected (along with all the other new airports) was because of the economic disruption of having to close Heathrow ... yet this same consideration seems to play less strongly around the Isle of Grain proposal.
So – on we go more time to make the case for #noestuaryairport (the twitter tag that has seen more than its fair share of use over the last few years).
One silver lining is that we will continue to highlight the fabulous work that is happening in and around the Thames to give nature a home – both our own work and that of our many partners.
The Estuary is an iconic landscape in the South East and its coastline is dotted with important projects both to enhance the value of the Thames for nature and making it better and more accessible for local people and visitors to the area. And it attracts investment – from the coalition Government’s own Nature Improvement Area initiative to our partnership with Crossrail and the Environment Agency to restore the coast at Wallasea Island.
A short blog can’t do this topic justice so me colleagues and I will return to the Aviation Commission’s Interim Report over the coming days. We'll look at the implications for the fight against damaging climate change amongst other issues.
Sir Howard was asked at the end of the launch if he saw the political will necessary to deliver airport expansion given the difficulties. He acknowledged that this was a classic case of an irresistible force meeting an immovable object – and he always backs irresistible forces.
Meanwhile, while we’re on the subject of twitter tags #JeThames
Follow me on twitter