Dave Arquati wrote:
John Rowland wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5024770.stm

I can't see the logic of building houses at Heathrow and then complaining
about the job losses devastating West London. Surely Heathrow should be
turned into an industrial estate/business park, if anything.

If it were to be redeveloped, I imagine a semi-independent town would be
in order, with a central office district around the railway stations and
houses surrounding that.

However, I'm sure it would never come to that - there are too many
vested interests in the area. Surely most businesses in the surrounding
area (and indeed many in the Thames Valley) are only there because
Heathrow is there.

A compromise might be to keep Terminals 4 and 5, and the south Runway,
and build a town to the North. That way all the businesses around
Heathrow would still have an airport, but it only be as big as Gatwick.

wrote:

A compromise might be to keep Terminals 4 and 5, and the south Runway,
and build a town to the North. That way all the businesses around
Heathrow would still have an airport, but it only be as big as
Gatwick.

Terminal 4 is difficult to serve by the existing and planned railways, so it
would be better to close that.