When the news broke about the Government Midlands Airport proposals. Warwickshire County Council engage a Consultancy firm to review the various options and to consider the implications.
Jacobs Consultancy looked at all the possible changes that would increase capacity in the Midlands
- Maximised Use of the existing runway space at Birmingham International Airport (BIA)
- Building of an additional runway at BIA, with two options for the use of that facility – the Close Spaced option (34mppa), or the Wide Spaced option (45mppa)
- Maximised Use of the existing runway space at East Midlands Airport (EMA)
- Building of an additional runway at EMA, with two options for the use of that facility – the Close Spaced option at 1.2Km (43mppa), or the Close Spaced option at 2.2Km (43mppa)
- Lengthening of the Runway at Coventry Airport
- New Airport and Infrastructure in Warwickshire (at Church Lawford and King’s Newnham)
The above changes were then grouped into 5 scenarios
- Scenario 1. Maximised Use of the existing runway space at BIA and EMA
- Scenario 2. Additional Wide Spaced Option at BIA, Max use of space at EMA
- Scenario 3. Additional Close Spaced Option at BIA, Max use of space at EMA
- Scenario 4. Additional Wide Spaced Option at EMA, Max use of space at BIA
- Scenario 5. New Airport and Infrastructure in Warwickshire (at Church Lawford and King’s Newnham)
The various scenarios were then reviewed with respect to Air Travel Demand, Economic Benefits, Surface Access, Environment Impact and Health Impact. The review summarised the negative and positive impacts from minus 4 to plus 4 – with the two maximum negative scores (minus 4) given to Scenario 5 (New Airport) in terms of Environment impact and Health impact. The only minus 3 score was also given to the New Airport in terms of Road Congestion, even though it was perceived to have one of the better road accessibility options.
The report also noted that the need for the new airport on the basis of air travel demand was questionable. It concluded that Warwickshire should not support the proposal for the new airport, but should generally support development at the other Midlands Airports to meet air travel needs.
The report was published in October 2002. More details can be found in the Research Section of the Archive.