Stop the Estuary Airport

Don’t just take our word for it –  here’s what other people say about the estuary airport:

“”The idea that you could have permission to start advancing this as a serious proposal next year is clearly for the birds.  We dont regard it as in any way credible”.
- Lord Adonis, former Secretary of State for Transport (Kent Messenger, 19 October 2009)

“The notion of a new London hub airport in the Thames Estuary is a non-runner. The government said so in 2003. Five years later, the case for the same verdict is even stronger”.
- Willie Walsh, Chief Executive of British Airways (12 March 2008)

“Building an estuarial airport in places of ecological sensitivity, which have large seabird populations, is not practical, because of both the impact on the environment and the risk of bird strike—a phenomenon not unknown to those who operate aircraft ”
- Rt Hon Geoff Hoon (former MP), when he was Secretary of State for Transport (House of Commons, 21 October 2008)

“It is difficult to envisage a more problematic site anywhere else in the UK”
- Central Science Laboratory Birdstrike Avoidance Team (North Kent Marshes Study Phase 1 Report, January 2002)

“These proposals would not deliver net environmental benefits.”
- Ben Stewart, Greenpeace (Business Green, 23 September 2008)

“In terms of airport safety it is not a runner, in terms of environmental and ecological impact it is not a runner. In terms of funding it makes no sense at all”.
- Bob Spink, former MP (The Echo, 6 January 2009)

“This idea has been knocking around for so many years it was less like flogging a dead horse than flogging a dead dinosaur. It should be buried once and for all.”
- Gordon Henderson, MP For Sittingbourne and Sheppey (July 2010)

“On the Thames Estuary, that is not an option that we are looking at”.
- Theresa Villiers MP, now Minister of State for Transport (House of Commons, 28 January 2009)

These plans “would include decimating the Elmley reserve, Warden Bay, Leysdown and Shellness”.
- Derek Wyatt former MP (Sheerness Times Guardian, 29 January 2009)

“The proposal for a Thames estuary airport has not been thought through and is an idea that probably has more problems than benefits.”
- James Duddridge MP (Southend News, 30 September 2008)

“I am not a fan of “Boris Island”. I do not think that it would work.”
- Roger Gale MP (House of Commons, 28 January 2009)

“Only central government can make a decision on Mr Johnson’s plans and it and the Conservative Party are not looking at the option of an airport in the Thames Estuary.”
- Julian Brazier MP, Shadow Aviation Minister (Whitstable Gazette, 29 January 2009)

“Proper and thought through consideration was given to an international airport in the Thames Gateway a few years ago. We argued and showed that such a scheme was unworkable on a number of fronts – financially, unrealistic transport links and environmental damage.”
- Paul Clark former MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport (21 September 2008)

“I don’t think that it will happen. The mayor of London should ask, what is the relation of London to its airports? The inevitable answer will be that it is a disproportionate investment for the return. It would be unviable.”
- (Terry Farrell, member of Thames Estuary Steering Group, Architects Journal, 11th March 2010)

“The party isn’t putting forward that approach or another runway at Heathrow.”
(David Cameron, Medway Messenger, 25 Jan 2010)

“It goes completely contrary to the needs of the people of Medway.”
(Cllr Rehman Chishti, Member of Parliament for Gillingham and Rainham, Medway Messenger, 14th January 2010)

“All evidence is that it would be unacceptable on economic and environmental grounds”
(Gordon Henderson, MP for Sittingbourne and Sheerness, Radio Kent, 2nd July 2010)