New airport 'could be possible'

Jerry Thomas
The Politics Show London

The Mayor's solution to Heathrow expansion is to build a new airport

The government's decision to green light the building of a third runway at Heathrow brought to an end one of the most contentious and long running planning debates in recent memory.

But with Labour behind in the polls, the next general election only months away and the Conservative party opposing Heathrow expansion, will the runway ever be built?

Now the mayor of London has waded in, offering a third way solution in the form of a proposed £40bn airport to be built in the Thames estuary.

An initiative conspicuously not endorsed by the Conservative party at Westminster.

'Boris Island'

Last week the Mayor released a feasibility study into the proposed airport in the Thames Estuary known as "Boris Island".

The author, civil engineer Doug Oakervee, found that there were no "overwhelming constraints" to the project.

The Mayor has released a feasibility study into the proposed airport

Buoyed by the study's findings, the Mayor set up a new 10 man steering committee to investigate the feasibility further.

But the plan has been met with strong opposition from Transport Secretary Lord Adonis, environmentalists, the business lobby in London and the leader of Kent County Council.

Now after dipping his toe in the Thames Estuary, some think the Mayor may be getting cold feet.

Many political observers reckon that 'Boris Island's' unpopularity in Kent and Essex might prove to be an electoral liability for the Conservatives at the next general election.

Would such a thought curb Boris Johnson's enthusiasm for his eponymous island?

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