Heathrow Airport would cease to exist and a new London borough would be created in its place, under the ambitious London Britannia Airport plans.

The Thames Estuary Research and Development company (Testrad) has unveiled designs for a six-runway airport in the Thames estuary, to the east of London, and say it could be built in just seven years.

Clearly implying that Heathrow would have to close as a consequence, Testrad say the £47bn cost of the new airport would be covered by ‘recycling’ Heathrow land and building a new borough from scratch.

A ‘London Borough of Heathrow’ would provide 300,000 new homes and 200,000 jobs, and be ‘a technopolis centre for regional high technology enterprise,’ says the consortium.

A high-speed rail link across the capital from the new estuary airport to the borough is also proposed.

The Heathrow site is more than 12sq km, slightly bigger than the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Leader of Hillingdon Council, Ray Puddifoot, said the land at Heathrow represents a ‘remarkable opportunity’ for future redevelopment.

“We have made it clear that there are far better uses of the land at Heathrow,” he said this week. “Heathrow can’t expand any more, and three runways won’t cut it – we all know four will be needed. Why don’t we get the best of both worlds; build a new international airport and realise the potential for the Heathrow site?”

Artist impression of the proposed Britannia Airport
Artist impression of the proposed Britannia Airport

Mayor of London Boris Johnson, who has championed the London Britannia Airport vision of an airport on the Thames, said at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference earlier this month that Heathrow’s third runway plans were ‘toxic’ and ‘politically...undeliverable’.

A spokesperson for the mayor said: “The Britannia Airport proposal is a welcome argument in favour of the feasibility of building a new hub airport in the Thames estuary. With so many options available for a multi-runway hub airport in a new location, the mayor believes it would be folly for the Airports Commission to give countenance to the prospect of expanding Heathrow, the most noise-polluting airport in Europe.”

The Airports Commission, tasked by the government to recommend the best way to deliver extra runways in the south east, will reveal a shortlist of the most viable options next month.

Heathrow has put three third runway locations forward, which would decimate Harlington, Sipson or Stanwell, but insist that it could be built at a fraction of the cost of the mayor’s scheme.

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