º£½ÇÊÓƵ

The Mayor of London has made no bones about his dismay at the government's timetable for the Airport Commission review, with its final recommendations due in 2015 following the next General Election. He has called this,'wholly unacceptable', adding, 'every moment we delay, our rivals build their connectivity at our expense'. The Commission, headed by Howard Davies, is due to publish an interim report in December.

In his recent report to government, made this October, on the long-term options for º£½ÇÊÓƵ airport expansion put forward by the Airports Commission review, the Mayor emphasised the additional road and transport stress resulting from a third runway at Heathrow emphasising it would mean more than 25 million extra road journeys. This would, he said, cause 'colossal' levels of congestion alongside significant overcrowding on trains serving the airport.

He has claimed the cost of expanding roads and rail has been underestimated and he is well known for his proposed four-runway hub airport in the Thames estuary.

In the Midlands context, Paul Kehoe, Chief executive, Birmingham Airport, has commented on the Mayor's options stating, "Getting the right amount of aviation capacity for London is absolutely critical for the smooth functioning of (the) network - but that is not the end of the story. To build a balanced Britain, we need international gateways up and down the country that are delivering on all cylinders for economies across the whole of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ - including the South East, the Midlands, the North and Scotland.

The pressing issue of º£½ÇÊÓƵ airport capacity, and specifically in London, was the subject of Boris Johnson's recent speech to the CBI Annual Conference just over a week ago. He opened with characteristic chutzpah, chiding the assembled business people for supporting a 'politically undeliverable project', adding, 'delivering Runway 3 would increase heart disease by more than 30% and reduce childhood.'

In fact, Sir Mike Rake, the new president of the CBI and former Chairman of Easyjet, has called building a third runway at Heathrow, a "no-brainer" saying that government should get on with increasing aviation capacity immediately and criticising politicians for spending too long talking about new runways but failing to take any decisions.

The Mayor's opening words stressed the importance of this debate to º£½ÇÊÓƵ competitiveness and its implications to so many in terms of quality of life.

"Airport capacity in London is a major barrier to growth. Airports are the modern equivalent of maritime transport. Three quarters of all trips to and from the º£½ÇÊÓƵ are through airports. Half the value of manufactured goods go by air and this proportion is growing.