The hot topic for Eastleigh and indeed Hampshire is the refusal of E.L.A.C. (Eastleigh Local Area Committee) to pass the application to extend the runway at Southampton Airport.
I deplore this short sighted decision that, if rubber stamped by the Eastleigh Borough full council meeting, will have a detrimental effect on the future prosperity of not only Eastleigh, but also the neighbouring districts and the whole county.
With the prospect of Southampton becoming a ‘Freeport’, an airport with expanded capacity that would include additional destinations, would be beneficial to new and prospective businesses that would generate employment and wealth. Added to that, the prospect of additional tourism would also be a welcome bonus to Hampshire and the local economy.
We must sound a word of caution regarding the planning needed to enable such growth and prosperity to occur should the airport expansion be passed. Covid aside, in normal times, Eastleigh’s transport infrastructure experiences excessive amounts of traffic that has seen the town and immediate neighbourhoods and districts, gridlocked. Improved access by car, coach/bus and train travel to the airport should be a priority item for consideration.
Airport Runway extension: the facts. Much has been said, and written about about the proposed runway extension (164 metres 538ft) at Eastleigh/Southampton airport, many of the arguments and comments, simply not based on facts! In order to survive, following the demise of Flybe, the airport needs to attract more operators, offering more domestic routes, and in addition medium haul route options to countries such as Greece, Turkey, Italy, Spain, and other popular foreign holiday resorts. Currently, the most popular planes used, by holiday operators like Easyjet, are the Airbus 320: Jet2 & Ryan Air the Boeing 737-800. The Airbus 320… Read more »
Hello Brian. Thank you for your constructive response.