Estuary Airport shelved... for now?

The Tories needed to make an unequivocal statement. Labour called for one. The Peninsula residents demanded one.

So it was with some expectation and welcome that this blogger witnessed Medway MP Rehman Chisthi direct a simple question to the Prime Minister.

It was in the Prime Minister's court today to end this 'pie-in-the-sky' scheme once and for all.

He failed.

Responding to the question from the Gillingham and Rainham MP today Mr Cameron said: "The Department for Transport has no plans to build an airport in the Thames Estuary, Medway or Kent. We have also scrapped plans to build a third runway at Heathrow."

Whilst on the face of it this is a welcome response it actually raises more questions then it answers.

First of all no one was yet under any illusion that there were plans being considered by the Department of Transport. The proposals are being paid for, directed and pursued by the Conservative Party Mayor. Everyone knows he has not yet passed on his recommendations yet but at some point he no doubt will. London Conservatives are therefore continuing to direct funding into proposals that will concrete over North Kent. The fact that proposals are continuing tonight means residents have achieved nothing but a false guarantee.

Will the lobbyists stop trying to persuade David Cameron and George Osborne?

Well...

Secondly, Mr Cameron did not refute any future plans. The Prime Minister did not rule out a future airport, he did not and has not directed Boris, as party leader, to ditch the idea. He has not called for the disbanding of the Parliamentary Thames Estuary Group.

Lastly, those of us who have some memory will remember Cameron promising that 'there were no plans for a VAT increase.' That changed quick enough. Plans change, times change, Tory fuzzyness hasn't.

Cameron has therefore told us nothing new. Boris Johnson's spokesperson today refused to ditch the proposal.

So we are back to square one? No. The Cliffe proposal is now, most importantly, on the table. Net result; Medway lose. The Prime Minister has rejected plans everyone knew did not (yet) exist, the Conservative Party Mayor can continue funding plans and proposals to concrete over North Kent, the lobbyists can still meet senior staff and the Parliamentary Thames Estuary Group are still able to sit down.

To top it all off, this blog will a wager down to readers, that within the year we will have further press coverage of Boris Island, Cliffe Airport and/or the concreting of North Kent.

Throughout this sorry saga, residents have been treated with contempt by representatives of the Conservative Party. We have had three years of threats and constant denials, counter-denials and policy changes. Three years of one Conservative saying one thing and another saying another. Residents are fed up of it.

Cameron had a chance today to get the Conservative Party Mayor into line. He had a chance to call for the disbanding of the Parliamentary Thames Estuary Group. He had a chance to reject any and all future suggestions on an airport in the Thames Estuary.

He didn't.

Oh well, Labour will not be the only one's hoping for a Ken Livingstone victory in 2012!

Today presented an opportunity to finally close this chapter and move on. They failed.