Stansted Airport – The New Listener

17:17 Thursday 6th November 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: A business group claims Network Rail has missed an opportunity as they announced plans to upgrade the rail line between Cambridge, Stansted Airport and London. They say it doesn’t go far enough, and say the route needs major upgrading, not just modest improvements. Richard Schofield is the Route Managing Director at Network Rail. He says there isn’t the demand in the area for that level of growth.
(TAPE)
RICHARD SCHOFIELD: We welcome views of people that think we’ve got it wrong, but if you look at the needs over the next decade, there isn’t the volume of growth that would justify a business case to do that piece of work. But we welcome the input from Stansted Airport and the businesses and Transport for London around what they think we should be doing, so that we can create a business case that we can send to Government and say look, actually we think there is a greater need.
(LIVE)
CHRIS MANN: However he said if a Government report showed there’s going to be an increase in passenger numbers at Stansted, they would reconsider.
(TAPE)
RICHARD SCHOFIELD: So we would then work with stakeholders and Government to put together a plan that addresses the need to get passengers to Stansted in even greater numbers. But we can’t really second guess the outcome of that report, but we will of course take it into mind as we go through next year.
(LIVE)
CHRIS MANN: That was Network Rail’s Richard Schofield. Let’s bring in councillor Kevin Bentley, the Chair of Infrastructure at the London Stansted Cambridge Consortium. Hello Kevin.
KEVIN BENTLEY: Good evening.
CHRIS MANN: They say there’s not enough demand. What’s your evidence that it’s otherwise?
KEVIN BENTLEY: Well just look at it. Look at the fantastic growth that’s happening in Cambridgeshire, not just in the bio-tech industries, but all industries, plus the great science parks we have in Cambridge as well. Just down the road in Harlow, the Enterprise Zone, the Government’s own Enterprise Zone that we’re working so hard to make happen down there and it’s going to be fantastic. Then you go down the line further into London, plus of course Stansted Airport, which is set to grow in passenger numbers. All the evidence is there. We have presented this before. I just don’t understand what Network Rail’s doing. They’ve missed a golden opportunity. We’re going to prove them wrong.
CHRIS MANN: But they say quite categorically, you heard the man say that there’s no demand. Have you done a survey?
Continue reading “London Stansted Cambridge Consortium – Network Rail underestimate demand”

17:20 Tuesday 28th August 2012
Drive BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Downing Street is insisting the Coalition will stick to its commitment not to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport. David Cameron’s coming under increasing pressure to reconsider the Government’s position, with some Conservatives arguing that expansion will help revive the economy. The Chairman of the Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee, South Suffolk MP Tim Yeo, urged David Cameron to decide whether he was “man or mouse”. Officially, both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats oppose the move. But Tim Yeo says the business case for expansion is now overwhelming, and environmental concerns have also been addressed. (TAPE)
TIM YEO: We ought to make Britain the most business friendly country in Europe. Part of that is modernising our transport infrastructure, and here’s a project, unlike almost all the others, which does not require a single penny of taxpayers’ money. There could not be a more attractive option than to give the go-ahead now.” (LIVE)
CHRIS MANN: But the Tory MP for Harwich and North Essex, Bernard Jenkin, is pressing for a new airport in the Thames estuary instead. (TAPE)
BERNARD JENKIN: Both North Kent and South Essex are depressed areas. This would be a golden opportunity to regenerate the Thames corridor. We also need to have a third Thames river crossing, and another Thames barrier, and these are all things that could be combined in a single project, which would be of enormous public benefit, and provide the strategic airport capacity that we need. (LIVE)
CHRIS MANN: Campaigners against expansion at our local airport at Stansted say it wouldn’t surprise them if there was another attempt to build a second runway there, but say they are ready to rebuff it. Carol Barbone is from the Stop Stansted Expansion (Campaign), and I spoke to her a little earlier on, to get her reaction to today’s developments. Continue reading “Carol Barbone on UK Airport Expansion”