Demand for air travel at London’s airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and City — see Figure 1 on the back page) is expected to increase from 140 million journeys per year in 2010 to 400 million per year in 2050. For years, indeed decades, there have been calls by business leaders for extra airport capacity to serve London and the southeast. However, many voices, including those of residents who might be affected, have been raised against such proposals.
A plan was agreed in 1973 to develop a new London airport on Maplin Sands at Foulness in the Thames Estuary. This was abandoned on grounds of cost in 1974. Stansted airport was enlarged instead. Then, in 2002, a site at Cliffe in north Kent was identified, only for the scheme to be scrapped in 2003 because of high costs and environmental opposition.
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