Runaway Runway

The Chancellor, Rachael Reeves was on the telly alot this week talking about the proposed third runway at Heathrow airport, it's something that's been banged on about by politicians of every stripe for decades and so far nothing has happened. I'm in favour of a new runway, my view is that international trade and travel is the lifeblood of this country and over the last couple of decades our lack of fast efficient transport systems has contributed to our worrying decline into obscurity, many European cities and transport hubs have picked up revenue from global travellers and business folk at our expense. 

We are, of course, in a difficult position. Heathrow airport is perched on the Western edge of a densely populated city, there's no room for meaningful expansion and in order to expand at all we will have to destroy existing dwellings and infrastructure, so not ideal. There are a couple of schools of thought on this, there are those who don't want any expansion (often for reasons to do with climate-change), people that want expansion of varying degrees and people that would rather see expansion taking place somewhere else (i.e. not in their backyard) My view is that simply adding a runway to Heathrow, one that won't come into service until at least 2040 is just a drop in the ocean without similar investments in other modes of transport, i.e. rail and urban light-rail to move people to and from these hubs. In that respect I must conclude that the announcements and apparent vigour of Rachel Reeves seems mostly "political" in nature, we shall see what else (if anything) emerges.

I don't see how we can avoid expanding Heathrow and probably other London airports as well, at least if we want the city to thrive and grow for another 100 years. However, I am also sypathetic to the idea that we should consider beefing up other regional airports at the same time, the argument for that is clear, most people want and/or need to travel and most people in the UK don't live in London! I'm convinced that cities like Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh etc. are also worthy of the trade that good transport links provide and could also contribute positively to the wealth of the nation if opened up more.