Despite the Airports Commission’s report recommending an additional runway at Heathrow, the debate is set to continue with Gatwick (unsurprisingly) now saying that the report is flawed. They are probably right.

If we assume that Boris Johnson’s dream of an island airport in the Thames Estuary has now drowned, then expansion of London’s existing airports is the only option.

There are calls from many sources to increase the number of runways at both Heathrow and Gatwick to three and two respectively.

This would provide a far better solution for longer-term expansion, but planners must also consider how to improve access to both airports and, importantly, how to manage transfers between the two.

Gatwick and Heathrow are connected by the congested M25/M23. The distance between them is 38 miles but journey times are anyone’s guess, ruling out transfer traffic between the two.

If we could provide a quick and reliable link between the two, we could effectively create a five- runway airport for the South East.

Surely the solution is to build a high-speed railway link that runs parallel, under or above the existing motorway in order to avoid displacing existing homes.

Transfer times would be around 15 minutes if we assume a line speed of around 200mph. The service would be fast and reliable and therefore open up transfer opportunities between Heathrow and Gatwick.

Another essential solution is to connect Heathrow to HS2. Disappointingly the government has ruled that out as “unnecessary to support the expansion of Heathrow”!

One extra runway in the South East is not enough. Two is ideal – but only with better links between Heathrow, Gatwick and the rest of the rail network.

It’s probably too much to expect HS2 to connect Heathrow and Birmingham airports (journey time approx. 40 mins) – then we’d have a properly integrated transport strategy.