London Mayor Boris Johnson has announced that he would consider the construction of a totally new airport in an attempt to relieve the pressure on Heathrow Airport.

The new airport’s proposed site is an artificial island created in the Thames estuary just north of the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, which would be created by building on massive amounts of landfill.

Earlier this year, Mr Johnson set out his reasons for opposing the expansion of Heathrow Airport. The Mayor’s position, which is against the government's stance, largely draws on environmental evidence relating to the impact of any further expansion.

Mr Johnson said: "You can't endlessly expand Heathrow in the suburbs of west London and entrench what was really a planning error of decades ago."

Deputy mayor Kit Malthouse spoke in support of the Mayor’s proposal: "I think it's madness to expand any of the other airports when there is an obvious solution elsewhere."

The Mayor also spoke of "phasing" the eventual closure of Heathrow Airport, which employs 70,000 staff.

Under the new proposal, the new facility could be built in as little as six years, while Heathrow Airport could face the future as a business park.

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