Discussion

MR PAYNE There is an international need for new airports and for them to be located in places which take into account their total impact on the community and not solely the needs of air transport. The need for new airports and the decision where to put them is no longer related only to air traffic control capacity, but must allow for noise, urbanization and the availability of land in the particular region.

In the U K there is just not enough land and building a new airport on reclaimed land has easily understandable advantages. When the decision is taken to build a large new airport like Maplin to serve a major city, constraints are inevitably imposed at existing airports serving the same region. Such restrictions dictate to a considerable extent the future pattern of air traffic and airport use in that area, as can be seen from the U K Government's policy statements related to the choice of Maplin.