RiverOak Strategic Partners latest Manston consultation dates and events

An RSP graphic of Manston airport

The firm aiming to bring aviation back to Manston airport  will hold two public consultation events this month.

RiverOak Strategic Partners is proposing to reopen Manston airport as an air freight hub with associated business aviation and passenger services.

The company had planned to submit an application for a Development Consent Order to the Planning Inspectorate to allow a compulsory purchase of the site by the end of last year but that is now delayed until after the consultation. It bought out the DCO rights from the original proposing company RiverOak corporation in December 2016.

RSP will hold the events on January 23 at the Comfort Inn in Ramsgate between 2pm and 8pm and on January 24 at The Kings Hall, Herne Bay, from 2pm to 8pm.

The events are open to any member of the public that would like to attend and further details of the locations, local public transport services and other information can be found in the Statement of Community Consultation which can be downloaded from www.rsp.co.uk

Public consultation runs from Friday 12 January to Friday 16 February.

Copies of consultation documents will be available from 12 January at www.rsp.co.uk and at the following public libraries during their normal opening hours: Birchington, Broadstairs, Cliftonville, Deal, Herne Bay, Margate, Minster-in-Thanet, Newington, Ramsgate, Sandwich and Westgate.

As the full Preliminary Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) is a large document, it will only be available in hard copy at Deal, Ramsgate and Margate libraries, although it will be available in electronic form at all libraries.

A non-technical summary will be available at all libraries, at the two consultation events, and on the RSP website.

Site owners Stone Hill Park held consultation events last November on their reworked proposals for housing, business, heritage and leisure space at the site.

An updated application is expected to be lodged with Thanet council imminently.

5 Comments

  1. I’m personally for any development that doesn’t involve our utterly uselss Thanet District Council. TDC hope to build thousands of new houses on Manston airfield, which will really help our already struggling council who have zero resources for anything positive and simply rely upon handouts from Lottery funding or the private sector to achieve anything.

    I’m sure they’ll say the additional council tax will help pay towards more services, but surely they should improve what’s currently here, before building more.

    It’s probably the same councillor who thought Arlington House would benefit the Margate skyline!

    I would urge everyone to investigate this proposal, as this is a serious long term solution, with real money, rather than simply increasing the population with not way to service the increased number of residents.

    • I think you misunderstand. TDC does not own the land. Their only involvement is as the local planning authority. The legal owners of the failed airport site are private developers and they have put forwards plans for a mixed development. This includes an element of housing but also includes amenities such as a school, a medical centre, and a series of business units for high tech. manufacturing. It is rumoured that revised plans being put forward this month will include a heritage runway. In fact, most councillors are backing plans to reopen the failed airport. If you want nothing to do with TDC’s plans for the site, the airport option is the one to stay well clear of.

  2. Looking forward to seeing the preliminary environmental impact report. If they’ve done it properly they will have had to make sensible estimates for the numbers of flights, particularly night-flights, and the noise levels. None of this data was made available for the last meaningless consultation.

  3. Why on earth do some local councillors, not to mention both Thanet MPs, want to see a new airport reopening at manston? Ramsgate, Herne Bay and villages in between are all under the flight pathe. Thousands of residents would suffer from serious noise and air pollution. It is a mystery to me, and I suppose to many others in Thanet, why local MPs aren’t speaking out against RSP’s proposals instead of enthusing about them.

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