Deal 'airport' plans revealed

An engineering company that wants to build a 40 billion pound airport on sandbanks off Deal on the Kent coast has outlined its scheme - to a French audience. Beckett Rankine were invited to explain the proposal to business leaders in Calais.

Here, the scheme has been labelled as ludicrous by the local MP. But backers say it's the best option for a new hub airport for south-east England - and northern Europe.

Derek Johnson speaks to French business representatives Vincent Didry and Thaddee Segard, Hilary Newport from Protect Kent and Tim Beckett from marine consulting engineers Beckett Rankine.

The firm behind proposals to build a Kent airport on the Goodwin Sands off the Deal coast have outlined their ideas to business leaders and the media in Calais.

Our Correspondent Derek Johnson has been following the morning's events and has been tweeting about people's reactions.

More details of architects' proposals for a hub airport on the Goodwin Sands, six miles off Deal on the Kent Coast, are being revealed at a briefing in Calais today.

The firm behind proposals to build a Kent airport on the Goodwin Sands off the Deal coast have outlined their ideas to business leaders and the media in Calais.

Maritime engineers Beckett Rankine say the £39 billion four-runway airport would benefit millions of people in northern France and become a hub for Northern Europe.

The plan - one of several being considered in an ongoing government review into airport capacity - is opposed by the local MP and environmentalists.