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New plans unveiled for £47bn 'Boris Island' estuary airport which would REPLACE Heathrow in seven years
Hub airport 50 miles from London in Thames Estuary would create 200,000 jobs - but would mean the closure of Heathrow
Designers have unveiled the latest ambitious plans for the six-runway 'Boris Island' hub airport which could be built outside London in the next seven years.
The £47.3billion 'London Britannia Airport' would be built on a purpose-built island 50 miles from central London - but would also mean the closure of Heathrow.
The proposed new airport, dubbed 'Boris Island' due to its backing from the London Mayor, would be built in the Thames Estuary and create 200,000 jobs.
A proposal has been released by the Thames Estuary Research and Development (Testrad), which shows the airport as a futuristic hub island.
London Mayor Boris Johnson has long championed the new hub airport, and blasted plans for a third or fourth runway at Heathrow.
London's biggest airport is already running at 99 per cent capacity, and more runways are needed.
Two years ago architect Norman Foster unveiled plans for the hub airport, which would have four runways in the Thames Estuary.
Mr Johnson, meanwhile, claimed further expansion of Heathrow would expose 'millions of Londoners to unacceptable levels of noise pollution'.
Testrad said 'Boris Island' would have six runways, and could be built within seven years without having to demolish houses or industrial infrastructure.
A spokesperson said: 'This project avoids flying over densely populated areas of London and the south east, removing completely the noise contours and impact which have bedevilled millions of people throughout and around London over the past 40 years.'
Testrad propose that Heathrow is 'recycled' into a new borough for London, which would create housing and business opportunities.
They added: 'Under wartime legislation in 1944, the village of Heathrow and valuable farmland was requisitioned for a new military airfield.
'Relocation and recycling the tightly constrained Heathrow airport site as a city extension for London, will allow a transformation of acres of runway concrete into a real piece of city, with the return of bio-diversity, in gardens, lakes and a landscape park system full of trees, birds and other wildlife.'
Mr Johnson said in the summer: 'This is further welcome argument in favour of the feasibility of having a new hub airport in the Thames estuary.
'With so many options available for a multi-runway hub airport in a new location, it would be folly for the Airports Commission to give countenance to the prospect of expanding Heathrow, the most noise-polluting airport in Europe.'
