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Mayor Boris Johnson's plan for a new airport on the Thames estuary took a huge knock today after the Shadow Transport Secretary put the kibosh on it. 'Boris Island' was seen by City Hall as a viable alternative to a third runway Heathrow, something the mayor has campaigned hard against. MP for Barnet Theresa Villiers said Boris Johnson's idea was "not Conservative policy". Johnson wants to build up to six runways on an island in the estuary two miles off Sheerness in Kent. A feasibility study is currently being conducted by Doug Oakervee, chair of the Crossrail project.
"Independent from party"
She also raised eyebrows by saying Johnson was "independent" from the national party. Johnson has clashed several times with leader David Cameron on policy, Cameron backed Grammar schools, and Johnson backed academies and Cameron’s outright hostility to an "earned amnesty" for illegal immigrants. Most recently they clashed over the new 50% top tax rate which Cameron seemed content to live with but Johnson called "not economically sensible." Boris has also signaled that he might not stand as Mayor for a second term prompting speculation he still harboured dreams of becoming Prime Minister.
Mrs Villiers said:
"It is not the Conservative policy to build an airport in the estuary. Boris is independent of the Conservatives on this issue." Medway council, Kent residents, environmentalists and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds have critised the island project. some engineers have also raised concerns with problems trying to build an international airport in a flood risk area.
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