Thames Hub plans ‘pie-in-the-sky’ – Medway Council

Architect Lord Foster’s Thames Hub plans have been criticised as “pie-in-the-sky” and even “potentially lethal” by one of the councils affected.

The project would cost at least £50bn, but could generate huge financial benefits, as well as creating thousands of skilled jobs in engineering, manufacturing and construction.

The infrastructure overhaul would include a four-runway airport, capable of handling 150 million passengers per year, combined with a London orbital railway and high speed rail links to the north and to Europe.

A railway station would be built underneath the airport, allowing passengers to reach London in 30 minutes. A freight port is also included in the plans.

Lord Foster said: “We need to recapture the foresight and political courage of our 19th century forebears if we are to establish a modern transport and energy infrastructure in Britain for this century and beyond. Britain can no longer trade on its inadequate and aged infrastructure.

“The cost of not doing anything will ultimately be much higher. We need to do something soon, and this plan is national, aiming to redress the imbalance of the economies of north and south.”

However the plans have been criticised for a poor choice of location on the Isle of Grain in Kent, which is dangerously near to natural gas terminals and could endanger wildlife, critics say.

Medway Council leader Rodney Chambers said: “The plan to build an airport on the Isle of Grain is, quite possibly, the daftest in a long list of pie-in-the-sky schemes. The Isle of Grain is home to one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas terminals. It is obvious that aircraft and huge gas containers are a potentially lethal mix.”