LOX Summary Report : Introduction

The LOX project is presented as a solution to the impending crisis in airport capacity in the South East region of the United Kingdom. It is for a new four runway airport near Abingdon in Oxfordshire. It is put forward as the 'Best Practicable Environmental Option' for airport development in the region – its environmental impacts being lower than all the alternative airports advanced in the national consultation on the Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom: South East.

LOX would provide an integrated transport hub at a hub airport with a large runway capacity, yet with a comparatively low level of environmental impacts.

LOX is advanced as the 'Best Practicable Environmental Option' for air transport in the region for these reasons:

• sufficient land is available;
• good surface access transport links with central London, other parts of the South East and the United Kingdom;
• few people would be displaced by the development;
• it is close to the demand and highly accessible to the majority of Great Britain;
• the combined environmental impacts of the project are assessed as significantly lower than any of the currently proposed Government options [note 1];
• to serve as a hub airport for Great Britain, rather than merely the South East region, the new airport is sited outside of the transportation 'shadow' cast by Greater London, with good motorway and rail links to central London, the Midlands, Northern England and the South West;
• the airport adjoins the Western Arc area of managed growth to the west of London: it would augment the economic potential of this sub-region and thereby assist in the maintenance of the Capital's status as a global centre;
• its location would also ensure that transatlantic and transpolar flights would avoid many of the restrictions imposed by capacity limitations in London airspace;
• its proximity to Heathrow airport with a dedicated rail link would offer the opportunity for a dual-hub of airports providing an unparalleled level of service;
• it would provide competition to the BAA monopoly.