Third runway at Heathrow is the revival of a fantasy project
A glance at a map reveals just how challenging this infrastructure project would be.
Ah, the M25…dontcha just love it? Well, probably not, especially the bit between the A3 and the M40. Still, those works at the junction with the A3 must be finished soon, surely? Well, let’s hope so, but something far more serious is nearing its final approach, in the form of another of those long-mooted mega infrastructure projects which will make Britain great again.
This is, of course, the third runway at Heathrow. A glance at the map reveals just how challenging this would be. To be within the Heathrow envelope requires an even more exciting landing than M25 users can witness today. The new runway would have to start/stop on top of the motorway, requiring a temporary diversion of all lanes at the widest part of the ring road while it was being built.
We know only too well what temporary means for infrastructure projects. Perhaps a decade might cover it. One thing is for sure: the most recent guestimate of £19bn would be another example of a builder’s estimate, a sum of money equal to about half the final cost.
Heathrow today is a much better airport than it was under the previous management, but its balance sheet is far too weak to support this sort of upfront spending. Its shareholders would like us to fund it instead. Our beloved Chancellor might sincerely wish to see the third runway, but even if the taxpayer was spared the bill, it looks like the revival of a fantasy project.
For an example of how these mammoth projects run out of control, consider the Lower Thames crossing. There is little argument about whether we need it, but at the last count, the paperwork on the subject totalled 359,000 pages, and there seems little immediate prospect of any actual construction. By contrast, the ferociously complicated UK tax code is only about 17,000 pages, although the forthcoming Finance Act is likely to add a few thousand more.
We in the UK are consumed by process rather than progress. The Chancellor is making all the right noises about clearing the obstacles blocking major projects, but if the law needs to be changed, nothing will be quick.
However keen Rachel Reeves is on another Heathrow runway, the courses of action open to those wishing to oppose it are almost as numerous as the planes themselves, along with generous timetables for consultation and consideration ending in the almost inevitable judicial review, to consider whether a newly-discovered Heathrow nematode worm would be threatened with extinction under the bulldozers.
What is the alternative? Certainly we need to change our aversion to progress, but we also need to look at other options. The Elizabeth Line/Cross Rail is an immensely beneficial project that is (finally!) completed, and is hailed as one of the greatest pieces of recent global infrastructure. I recently viewing documentaries about the birth and advance of railways (aka railroads) in the US and the UK. We need some of the can-do attitude, optimism, and desire to make money today!