The most-respected argument on the losing side was five words long, and it was about somewhere else entirely. “Build a new airport somewhere else” topped the No case, even as Yes won comfortably.
The most-respected Yes case was just as compact: “Heathrow is at capacity and unless we expand it then we will fall behind our international competitors.” Others sharpened it into impatience. One voter called the scheme “literally one more flat piece of tarmac”, while another asked of the long record of government backing, “Why is this still up for debate?”
No voters mostly argued for a different map rather than against aviation itself. Regional airports, Birmingham, Manchester, the Thames estuary and Gatwick all got a mention, with talk of spreading growth beyond London and the south east. A separate strand was climate: one No voter said approval “makes a mockery of our own current environmental commitments”. Yes voters answered that in kind, one dismissing net zero as “a joke”.
The two sides overlapped more than the result suggests. Some Yes voters wanted regional airports expanded too, one writing “Yes but also upgrade to other airports”, and one Yes voter conceded a new airport elsewhere might be better but judged it too expensive. Where they truly split was whether Heathrow's existing infrastructure made it the obvious place, or the wrong one.
The argument ran on the same question from both camps: where should the capacity go, and how fast can anyone build it?
45 Opinions
Build a new airport somewhere else
The volume of traffic at Heathrow has outstripped the capacity of the local area to service it. The Government/ CAA should be looking elsewhere to site a replacement which is provided with excellent new transport links to London and elsewhere. Reclaimed land on the Thames Estuary as envisaged by 'Boris Island' offers a solution that could become a prestigious destination of choice, creating good jobs and long term employment.
How much has it cost so far? So much opposition. Can we leave Heathrow alone and make another airport in a more suitable place?
Build up Birmingham Airport to full capacity. With HST2 it will be 50 mins from London, already well served by west coast trains and great road connections and will have a big catchment area.
Other airports need upgraded first. Heathrow has five terminals surely thats enough. How many do Edinburgh Belfast Cardiff and Liverpool have? Most trade comes here by Ship. If we need an airport for cargo planes then Newcastle would be ideal and it would economically sound giving much needed work to an unemployment riddled area plus it is central for all the UK not just London!!!
A third runway turns Heathrow into a global hub where people pass through on their way to somewhere else. If we aspire to offer that, then it can be outside London.
Heathrow is at capacity and unless we expand it then we will fall behind our international competitors.
With the number of other airports already in the south east of England I can’t help but think that the money would be much better spent building a new airport somewhere else in the country. This could include new dedicated road and rail networks rather than further clogging up the M25 and M4.
We need development, growth & jobs. Yes to Heathrow yes to Gatwick, build reservoirs too. It takes forever to do anything at all here, & we all suffer because of it. We need a govt which will just get on with it.
Benefits outweigh potential drawbacks. The sooner we start the better.