[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by Rob

The Thames Estuary provides a sort of reservoir into which all that tidal water being pushed around the English Channel and North Sea can be held without it all having to squeeze into the ever more restricted funnel of the Thames itself. Take away a large area of the estuary by building on or in it and that reduces the reservoir capacity potentially meaning the bottlenecked water will be more of a problem with a possible increase volume being pushed up towards London.

An interesting observation:

FP: The airport itself does not change the nature of wider flood risks, but the development is an opportunity to integrate future flood protection with a wider infrastructure strategy. The Thames Estuary 2100 report from the Environment Agency looks closely at the impact on flood defences and habitat loss in the light of thermal expansion in the oceans and storm severity. This validates earlier work that we based our designs on to found the base level for the airport platform 7m above sea level, negating any flood risk.

TR: Metrotidal Tunnel is designed to provide the next generation of London’s flood defences without requiring a permanent barrier across the shipping channel, by using the controlled flood-storage capacity of the pools. The pools would provide a throttle for storm surges and a reduction in tidal squeeze

Source and additional info

The real issue though is whether we, as a country, want to accept that we need communication and transport infrastructure to suit a modern economy. Air transport is here to stay whatever the environmentalists may say. Just as road transport has become more efficient, so has air transport. But it will never, in our lifetime, be green.

IIRC some time ago experimental jet airliners based on current engine designs were being run on Hydrogen and fuel celled cars are just around the corner. If we can produce the Hydrogen using green energy we can still fly.

Our planning laws for major projects have become so convoluted and restrictive that doing anything takes forever. Inevitably these add a burdens significant costs through all the enquiries and other paraphanalia. We only have to look at HS2 which was talked about before the last parliament and still isn't close to construction starting.

A major issue in such a crowded island.

So despite the need for more airport capacity, by the time that we manage to agree any new runway location, we'll already need a further runway. As a country we risk becoming so isolated that most of us will be doing short hops to Amsterdam, Paris or wherever has grown, before we can do the long haul stuff.

Too true.