"Boris Island" or Heathrow 3rd runway?

Londoners are split almost exactly in half in their support for expansion of London’s airport capacity according to an Ipsos poll conducted for BBC London.

Last week Mr Cameron said he was "not blind to the need to increase airport capacity, particularly in the South East" and George Osborne announced a need to confront the lack of airport capacity in the region.

Half of Londoners agree – 49% say London’s airports capacity should be increased in the next few years while 46% disagree. Support for expansion is particularly high among people who voted for Boris Johnson in 2008, 57% say London’s airport capacity should be increased compared to 39% against it. Young Londoners (aged 18-24) are particularly likely to be against expansion, with 56% saying capacity should not be increased and 40% in favour of expansion.

Among the half of Londoners who support expansion, three in ten (31%) think building a 3^rd runway at Heathrow is the best way of increasing London’s airport capacity and a quarter (23%) of those in favour of expansion think building a new airport on the Thames Estuary would be best.

A third (34%) of those supporting expansion think the best way of doing so would be to expand airports in and around London other than Heathrow.

Technical note

Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,001 adults aged 18+ across London. Interviews were conducted by telephone between 10^th and 13^th March 2012.  Data are weighted to match the profile of the population.