Concerns have been raised by a town councillor after some residents in Nethercourt received letters asking for details related to compulsory purchase of their properties.
Residents in areas including Windermere Avenue received the letters from WSP UK working on behalf of Manston airport developers RiverOak Strategic Partners.
The letters say: “As part of its proposals, RiverOak is seeking powers (to be contained in the DCO) to compulsorily acquire land and rights over land, so as to construct, operate and maintain an international air freight hub at Manston Airport.”
RSP aims to create aviation at the Manston site with a cargo hub and associated business. A Development Consent Order for the project was granted in July 2020 by the Secretary of State. However, the approval was quashed in February this year with a new decision now needing to be issued after a re-examination of the Planning Inspectorate evidence.
Town councillor David Green said he was approached by worried residents who feared they could lose their homes.
RSP says the letters are statutory notices sent out for land referencing because updates are needed due to delays caused by the renewed DCO process.
RSP director Tony Freudmann said: “We have to do a land referencing exercise to say who owns properties around the airport. Because of the delays we have had to redo part of it and had to write to people who would have recently moved in.”
Mr Freudmann says a second letter is going out to explain that “there is no question of compulsory acquisition of your house.”
He added: “It is just for properties in a radius of the airport for land referencing, no-one is going to have their house bought.”
Cllr Green said: “”My residents in Nethercourt contacted me having received a letter on behalf of RSP that appeared to suggest they wished to compulsory purchase their properties.
“It was extremely worrying for those concerned. It now appears the letters were a mistake and an explanation will be provided. I have suggested that RSP compensates all concerned for the unnecessary worry and solicitors costs.”
In June the Secretary of State appointed an independent aviation assessor as part of the latest DCO consultation process to advise him on matters relating to the need for the development and to draft a report summarising those findings.
This report was published last month and concluded there was not a case of need for the airport. However, following the publication, the Secretary of State was made aware of a reference in it to a section on the extent to which the 6th carbon budget affects the need case, which had been included in error.
The Secretary of State was also made aware that the Planning Inspectorate had redacted various references in the draft report in line with their corporate redaction policy. The reference to the section on the 6th carbon budget and redactions were removed from the draft report and the deadline for responses to the consultation has since been extended from November 19 extended to December 3.
Responses to the report and consultation can be sent by email to manstonairport@planninginspectorate.gov.uk, marked “For the attention of the Manston Airport Case Team”.
Documents and updates are published on https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/south-east/manston-airport/
Excellent news.
To CPO people’s houses or the fact there was no explanation for the worrying letters?
Let’s hope Greens bungalow is one that has to go ,he can go and live down wetherspoons as he reckons there’s plenty of jobs down there
Is your car FAB1 Lady Penelope?
As a matter of fact, Penelope, Wetherspoons created more jobs at the Royal Pavilion than there ever were at Manston.
There arep;enty of jobs in Wetherspoon’s.
Grow up Green,
looking in a mirror again Ann?
Good motto for our children “Grow up green”.
I’m not sure it’s Mr Green who needs to grow up.
Is your nose permanently brown from being up Riveroak’s rear end? Do you get paid for your insane shilling for them, or are you just a plane spotter who sniffs jet fuel?
Again RSP are cutting corners with those they employ.
Still there is no NEED for a Cargo Hub
But the dreamers dream
What a load of nonsense and confusion being caused by this bunch of desperados. The place is unviable. How many expert reports are needed to say the same thing before they understand?
The airport WAS unviable with minimal investment and only 2 stands for aircraft. RSP are planning to build 19 freight stands and 4 passenger stands. That’s why it had to pass the NSIP test before going to Examination for the DCO. The NSIP is still in force, despite some doubting it.
Ann, thanks for taking time to post in your busy schedule rattling the cage for RSP in London. We do appreciate it.
However, as an ex-KLM pilot who has recently moved to Ramsgate as I am now retired, I cannot see the relation between the lack of investment, the 2 stands, and the commercial failure of the site. Has anything changed in the cargo landscape to warrant the bump from to 20 stands? If the answer was to increase stands, why did they not do it then?
You also mention passenger activity- are any Londoners going to get on the train to depart from Manston, considering the few scheduled services and the relative dearer fares, compared to Stansted/Gatwick/Heathrow Express, or the Underground?
Thanks
Ron
Ronald, as your new here do your know that at least 4 or maybe 5 previous attempts to run Manston failed due to lack of demand! In my submission to the Planning Inspector, I showed that aircraft approaching over Ramsgate harbour as they must, are at less than 300 meters high! They are only 250/200 meters over Ramsgate High Street, and about 250 meters over Ellington Park, and just 100 meters over Nethercourt! It is planned to have 2 or more Cargo planes an hour but no passengers, as these were shown as an “Aspiration”. As you are a former air pilot would you want to live under this flight path!
Error! The height over Ellington Park will be less than 200 meters!
Thank you ever so much, Dumpton- bit of a long story my moving here but it involves a boat and meeting a lovely guy from here.
My solicitor made great efforts to tell me about the planned proposal, but to be honest, from what I know after 31 years in the industry is that we dont plonk aircrafts anywhere, and the sweet spot for technical and operational reasons has been known for long. I am not sure what will happen to the site, but I am sure it wont be a cargo/pax operation. Would be great to have a recreational licensed site though, but I am more and more weary of the environmental impact of all aircraft-related cycle, so they could just rewild it.
The chatter about MAN when it was operative, if I remember well, was quite vague, not much interest, even when the lowcosts were emerging. Can really comment on KLM stuff as bussiness sensitive, but we left after all.
Anyway, thanks for the welcome!
Was it Tony who was responsible for the lack of investment, last time he ran the airport?
Or was it KCC, who only spent a miserly £600,000 (of our money) to try to establish a route between Manston and Norfolk, Virginia (not one flight ever took off)
The reason the airport failed was that hardly anyone flew from it, on account of the catchment area mostly being fish .
The Planning Inspectorate decided that Manston was worthy as an NSIP for investigation.
It investigated.
It found that a DCO should not be granted.
Ask those that worked at Manston rather than rely of those that didn’t. Not only did planes get unloaded at stands they unloaded on the apron. HGV’s were allowed to drive to the aircraft to be loaded and even then an average of less than 3 aircraft a week came to Manston.
The DCO is in its death throes. A new cargo airport was never viable and climate change concerns mean it would be unthinkable for this or any government to sanction a new airport, when so many existing ones are under-utilised. Sadly, airport fanatics, in and out of the Council, will not accept reality and are blocking the really important discussion – if it isn’t going to be an airport, what could it be? Many believe that RSP never had any intention of opening an airport anyway. The big money would be in creating a new high density housing estate in the heart of Thanet. That’s what we’ll end up with if the airport fanatics keep blocking discussion of reality.
What a curious project this is. What’s really intended, who will benefit and how? I think the Gazette might be well placed to make some discrete enquiries.
Oh dear who let the moaners out, it’s a pity the whole of that estate was not going to be compulsory purchased. 90% of residents moved onto the estate when Manston Airport was last open so they moved in under the flight path. They knew that and never complained about the Airport. The others can phone miles and Barr.
Bill when the airport was operational they only flew aircraft 3 or 4 times a DAY! It was used on Saturday mornings once as a training exercise known as “tip & run” when aircraft would fly in over Ramsgate Harbour, land at Manston, and take off again! That didn’t last long either, but I remember on a number of occasions being in Ramsgate High Street when a Jumbo Jet flew over at less than 300 meters high, and made just about everyone scream in fear, as no warning was given!
In the early 60’s I was stationed in Germany on an exercise, under canvas, in a field, when we were all lined up to get our breakfast, and two Hawker Hunters (I think they were) flew over us at tree top height, and brought about 600 men to their knees! If people can hear a jet aircraft when its 5 miles high, imagine what it sounds like at a few hundred meters high!
I am dismayed by the horrible attitude and comments of (hopefully) a very small number of airport supporters. Whether you are for or against does not give you the right to be mean and hurtful to those you disagree with. Shame on anyone, from either camp, who feels the need to resort to insults, threats or harmful comments. It’s time this whole sorry saga was put to bed and people can get on with their lives without having to put up with this kind of abuse.
I’ve no strong opinion either way… except, why is Cllr Green posing in a faded pajama top?
Faded pyjama top? Priceless. Great observation, Peter Checksfield.
Cllr Green looks like a tramp and obviously likes his pies too much. However, his appearance lacks any regard for others who should expect a better dress code for an elected representative.
Long live Manston Airport and let’s get the cargo hub going.
Do you think eulogising over Pepper Pig is appropriate behaviour for an elected representative?
You do realise that such ad hominin attacks just signals that you have lost the argument so can only resort to insults.
Isn’t the problem that Manston Airport has never been long lived?
Quite a nice shirt, I’d say.
I’m sure it was when new.
It wasn’t just Nethercourt that received CPO letters it was houses at Cliffsend too. Funny how all the letters went out on the 19th November the day the deadline for submissions was due to end. If RSP can’t even get this right how can they ever expect to run an airport. Not like Fraud-man doesn’t tell lies you only listen to his academy FM “interview” last week where he lied about the DCO being accepted as a project of national strategic importance. It wasn’t even PINS pointed out from the word go accepting the application didn’t mean it was accepted as an NSIP. Manston runway isn’t nearly 3,000mtrs as he stated it is 2,748. And there were other ex RAF airfields available.
The mind boggles at how much money these clowns have wasted the last few years getting nowhere. It is quite clear the majority don’t want another failed airport, with endless noise, pollution & more lies about how many local jobs there will be & how much money it will bring. The reality remains-an airport in the middle of nowhere, with terrible transport links is not viable-why every attempt to run an airport there post WW2 has failed.
They have a tiny minority of cheerleaders saying great news whenever anything about RSP & Manston gets reported-even sending out a letter apparently deserves a round of applause from head cheerleader Ann. Like the woke lot they shout very loud, but only speak for a fraction of the public.
Funny how the people who want the airport have to resort to insults and aggression. Could it be they can’t engage in a reasoned debate as they have no evidence to back up their position ? There has been 16 reports saying that Manston isn’t needed or viable including the one commissioned by the DfT. The fact it failed three times and lost millions would tend to back that up. Just because you want something doesn’t make it needed no matters how loud you shout.
Those who want the airport to be open like it was and should be find the small number of complainers / moaners / protesters whatever they want to be known as very frustrating to say the least. They are the “I’m alright Jack” and don’t give a fig about jobs and prosperity that the airport will provide when it reopens.
Even if, in the face of legions of expert opinion, the DCO is granted, very few jobs will be created in a highly automated cargo airport. And, as the Planning Inspectorate pointed out, more jobs would be lost in the tourism and hospitality industries.
RSP failed to provide an update on their progress apropos Compulsory Acquisition time after time after time. One of the things that the SoS required of RSP was an update on this very topic. It looks like someone is panicking and has fired off letters left, right and centre.
As to unpleasant comments: right from the start, it has been a feature of oro-airport people to resort to personal abuse, simply because they have nothing else.
Hi Bill, what number of jobs would make you feel the airport is not worth the environmental and health impact it will cause on you, your family and your neighbours?
Would 10 jobs be worth the aggro and asthma?
Would 30 jobs be worth the heart disease and the dip in children’s school marks?
Would 50 jobs be enough to compensate for the high blood pressure and the need to take sleeping pills?
Out of curiosity, are you planning to apply to a job at the airport? And with 1million vacancies in the country, would you say that those waiting for the RSP promised jobs to materialise could be picking lots of other things to do?
Any evidence for that Bill? Every airport there since WW2 has failed. This was such hot property years ago that Ann Gloag bought it for a quid when nobody else wanted it.
It remains an airport in a tiny run down area with horrendous transport links. The usual promise of huge numbers of jobs-but as we have seen in the past it is in reality heavily automated.
This has about as much chance of taking off as the other great saviour of Thanet-no not the Turner monstrosity, the China Gateway project first muted in the late 1990’s that never came to be. Yes, there might be enough bribes & hollow promises made to get it up & running eventually, with some initial interest with the media hype-but it will soon nosedive like all the prior pilots.
It is pretty obvious as well that the people not wanting it are the overwhelming majority & not the minority. Just look on this website for a snapshot-looks about 98% to 2%-Ann, yourself & maybe one or two others every article
Funny how not one single report from any aviation expert had said Manston is needed or viable apart from Silly Dixon’s who has only ever worked in an aviation related capacity for Fraud-man ? You would have thought if it is so needed RSP would have found one expert who is willing to put their reputation on the line.
It is coming, Ramsgate resident. It is coming.
Christmas? Armageddon?? The End of the World??? The Heat Death of the Universe???? Something Wicked (oblique reference to a Ray Bradbury novel)?????
Ms Quot- Or to the witches in Macbeth.
Where can that expert be? Long have we waited ,but they have not shown up.
LOL Robert
It’s been coming since 2009 when the 1st report was commissioned by Infratil.
“Manston could become more active if they were allowed night flights like EMA and Stanstead for cargo”
Quote from one of the 1st reports but Freudmann says they don’t need NF now I wonder who is right an aviation consultant or one who drove Manston to bankruptcy?
The piece omits to mention the the Independent Assessor (International company Ove Arup) confirmed what almost everyone knows:
There is no need for additional air freight in the UK, and even if there was, Manston is not the place for it.
Manston is the perfect place for an international airport. Situated close to the continent and beyond. I grew up here when it was RAF Manston and I was in the ATC based at Manston. Our parade hut is still standing. The airport’s potential is enormous. Of that there is no doubt. This is the airfield of the V-bombers and a runway used to divert aircraft in trouble so that they could crash land using foam from the RAF Fire Service. So much skill and knowledge. It should continue for flying because it is perfect for that.
Your naivety is extraordinary!
An airport isn’t useful because it’s close to where people want to go: it’s useful because it’s where people are!
EMA works for freight in particular because it’s in the middle of England; it’s a hub; surrounded by major conurbations and road and rail networks.
Manston was handy during WW2, but not as a 21st century cargo hub.
And charming though your nostalgic thoughts are, they are not an argument for an airport at Manston.
In a way, your comments are a precis for the whole pro Manston argument: nostalgia and wildly baseless arguments.
At least you didn’t mention houses, DFLs or “the aquifer”; for which I’m grateful.
The point I was making concerns the fact that I am local born and, as such, nostalgic by nature. DFLs do not understand this and come down here to “teach grannie to suck eggs”. I believe my arguments are sound and more constructive than the house builders.
Facts are facts wherever you were born.
Slight logic fail there – if that were the case then Plymouth would be the favoured airport for flights to America. The truth is that airports are best placed close to large centres of population, or in the case of freight operations placed closely to the locus of national distribution centres i.e. the Midlands. In other words the attributes that Manston doesn’t have.
Robert, I think Manston would be a great launchpad for Virgin or Amazon’s space ventures. If you were in the ATC you’d know it ticks all the regulatory and operational requirements. Why RSP dont talk to Amazon puzzles me. And the new generation propulsion units are barely audible at 180db, Ramsgate would hardly know they are there and as vertical launch there would be no danger of catastrophic climb or descent/approach.
Jeff Befos
Perhaps RSP dont talk to Amazon because they know Amazon has huge warehouses in the Midlands close the Midlands airport. Why and were would Amazon build they bew huge warehouses in thanet ? And why move from the centre of the country ( good place for a cargo hub ) to the bottom right hand corner of England with really poor infrastructure?!
Hi, I wasnt thinking about aviation, but space tourism. It would complement well the current positioning as a tourist magnet.
Who knows? Perhaps secret negotiations are underway along the lines you intimate. Manston would be an attractive proposition for future aviation. The anti-airport mob would be climbing up the walls screaming.
So why has every airport there failed? What about the last one that promised to be the future of international travel to the media in the mid 2000’s-while the cameras filmed empty waiting rooms. One might think you are biased from your prior service there & are looking through rose tinted glasses of some romantic vision, rather than cold reality.
Robert WW2 finished in 1945 and the USAF left in 1958 Manston has failed ever since
Rubbish, God help us. Manston was an RAF station until the end of the 1990s. It never failed as such. I loved the sound of aircraft flying over Ramsgate. It demonstrated that life went on. The moaning minnies on here who hate aircraft should move and live elsewhere.
It is quite right that concerns are raised in this way and it is entirely predictable that many in receipt of these letters will be distressed and worried. What beggars belief is the ongoing dogmatic support by a small group of supporters for this man and his letters that are apparently an error. The disregard and disrespect shown to Ramsgate, especially Nethercourt, by RSP is breath taking.
There is little point commenting on the facts of this inept, incompetent shameful saga of aviation obsession by a vocal minority, including the current leader of TDC. To those supposedly speaking on behalf of the unemployed, what gives you the right to do so? Especially when Roger Gale speaks in the House of Commons that crops at Thanet Earth go wasted because Thanet has so many unfilled jobs. Is a cargo handling job somehow better than a job at Thanet Earth or in tourism or hospitality? Of course it isn’t.
This DCO and its band of followers has generated years and years of negative impact on Ramsgate in particular. Some of its unintended consequences now see housing going up all over our prime arable land due to TDC wilfully changing the local plan to preserve Manston at any cost. In reality, we know that of the little support there is for a giant cargo hub, most of it is actually anti housing sentiment wrapped up in a supposed preference for a knackered old cargo plane to lumber in over the harbour at 500 feet every 12 minutes.
For those residents who received these letters to suffer yet again at the hands of the most incompetent and contested DCO in planning history is shameful.
And indefensible.
That’s be honest thanet is a joke thanks to TDC and our MP’s
They have a loud thanet earth to be built here and is the second worst light polluter in England.
And now they want an airport that has so much against it it’s no profitable.
Wrong location, no decent road or rail, no fuel grid, runway run off area to short . The list just on .
The pros make me laugh with their rude comments, it’s so childish.
But when you ask the pros to answer just some of the points against manston being a stand alone airport they never answer you. The just blindly follow a struck off solicitor.
How is manston going to over come
1, poor location
2, expansive fuel bought in by tanker
3, no decent road or rail network
4, raising the 300 million
5, extending the run off area.
6, which comprises are planning on moving to thanet.
Ok pros that’s just 6 questions for you to answer or you could just ignore them and call me names lololol
*comprises* should read companies ! Predicted text !
Whatever RSP claim those properties on Nethercourt are in the DCO book of reference along with many others which will give RSP the powers of compulsory purchase if the DCO is passed. If they don’t want to CP them why are they included in the DCO application in the first place?
Perhaps Peter Checksfield could put a submission into PINS pointing out cllr Greens shirt is a good reason to pass the DCO ? I’m sure the DfT will be impressed as it would be one of the better arguments I’ve seen from the airport mob.
If he is telling the truth then why not put in the letter that it had nothing to do with compulsory purchase?
Don’t forget the trombone video.
It would be a blessing all round if Father Christmas visited the DFT and persuaded Grant Shapps to put this hopeless scheme out of its misery. The constant misinformation, poor or non existent evidence and general obnoxiousness towards anyone putting a contrary view, is not helpful and won’t make a poor scheme better. All shouting insults does, is make those shouting seem silly and not serious.
I fail to see what David Green’s shirt (a perfectly good one from what I could see) and his size, has got anything to do with why Manston should be built or why RSP has taken upon itself to frighten homeowners in Nethercourt and Cliffsend with threats of sequestration.
If you want to win friends and influence people don’t try to take their houses from them!
If Ann, Peter Checksfield, and Robert Edwards can believe in Manston, I can believe in Father Christmas. At least he gives out presents, where all RSP does is spread misery
George Nokes, Father Christmas does not hand out presents. It’s the domain of long-suffering parents who are fleeced every year by aggressive commercialism. That is the truth regarding Christmas.
Manston, however, is very real and shall deliver the real goods as soon as it is up and running again.
That would be the same aggressive commercialism that seeks to build an unviable airport and seeks to sequestrate local residents houses.
As for Calais being blocked, other ports are available.
I think Father christmas won’t bring you any presents this year, you naughty boy, Robert. Here is a question for you, are you really Ann in Drag?
I don’t do Christmas. Period. From a questionable religious festival to unbridled greed and gluttony. The Christ-child exchanged for a bloated bearded character in Coca Cola adverts.
If I get any presents they will be from real people. If anything flies through the sky it will not be phantom reindeer. It will be real aircraft delivering real goods.
Bob, please stop mixing alcohol and glue, it is dangerous.
If the French keep blockading the likes of CALAIS and such we will need Manston
Well said, Edmund. Manston would be a great asset in that regard.
No we won’t.
Cllr Green has done his duty as a local councillor and addressed concerns raised by residents in the ward he represents. He is not in a high power paid role but a town councillor, and for this article is photographed in a casual shirt, I think it is frankly pathetic that some of those contributing to this thread, attack him for the way he is dressed. Or on the fact he is a bit overweight, you people need to look in the mirror at your own lives, which could easily draw criticism. No wonder so few put themselves forward to serve the community, if the petty comments on this thread are typical of local residents. Well done Cllr Green taking up residents concerns.
John L Gibson, when I was a young man dress sense was highly important and was considered a reflection on the character of the wearer.
Likewise, looking like an overweight slob in his crumpled pyjama top is sadly a sign of the times where casual actually means scruffiness. Just an observation.
Robert, your young life must have been a long time ago! I learnt not to judge a book by its cover early in my life. Put a crook in a smart suit and he’s still a crook. Clever men and women the world over don’t need to dress to impress. Judging someone by how they look displays a lack of critical thinking that is responsible for much of the prejudice and failure in this world. David Green’s effectiveness as a councillor has nothing to do with how he dresses.
Phil, I recall the days before “trainers” flooded the footware market and men were judged by the condition of their shoes. We all did that to one another. I still have my old boot polish and brushes. I think it was all part of personal pride in appearance.
I have not succumbed to today’s inclination towards “casual”. I value older values and I do not apologise for it.
David Green, like most councillors, is as useful and effective as a chocolate teapot. They couldn’t run a knocking shop.
“I am local born.”-Robert Edwards, Dec.1st.
“I recall the days [when] men were judged by the condition of their shoes.”
Interesting to learn about local customs- where I grew up, we “judged” people by other things, less tangible things,not their shoe-polishing habits.
It’s a normal shirt, not crumpled, not grubby! And irrelevant to the above article.
So, we have moved from why RSP is going round threatening residents in an unassuming part of Ramsgate, with eviction, to what a Town Cllr is wearing and what he looks like.
Robert, would you like to explain how this advances your case for the reopening of Manston airport, one iota?
As for appearances, the current PM is not exactly Ralph Lauren is he, and I suppose you find no fault with him.
Next, you will be going on about woke or is it wonk, I am never sure, and how a secret cabal of lizard people are eating the over 60’s under cover of a false covid epidemic.
I really do think a team of trick cyclists need to be called in to section some of the madder elements in this HYS.
I am in full agreement with President Macron that Boris Johnson is a clown. He ruffles his hair because he is as bald as a coot, he stoops like an ape and lets his shirt tale hang out like a naughty public schoolboy. I am not a Tory in any sense.
Hoever, I believe Manston should continue as an international airport because it would bring jobs and local prestige. As I said earlier, I grew up with RAF Manston. I feel an attachment for that reason. DFLs feel no such nostalgic connection.
Only someone exposed to aviation fumes would prefer nostalgia to health, not just their own but also of their fellow citizens’. Shame on you. If you long for the RAF, move to Digby or Gibraltar. You have no idea about prestige. Leave Ramsgate, you are not worth of it.
Nostalgia certainly isn’t a good enough reason for wanting to inflict an airport on the local residents. There aren’t any other reasons good enough, either- even the Planning Inspectorate didn’t find any.
Nostalgia is but one motivation. It matters to those born in Thanet.
I have explained the need for jobs (not more housing) and the prestige to an area that an airport brings to it.
Bob, there are more than 1million vacancies in the UK right now. Would you agree with me that anybody unemployed today is so because they simply are not looking for work hard enough?
Prestige? What prestige can a noisy, polluting airport bring to anywhere?
If you don’t like noise then join a nunnery. If you were a man it would be a monastery. Prestige is being part of an international hub. The pollution aspect is being addressed with the goal of minimal pollution from aircraft.
“If you don’t like noise then join a nunnery” is an absolutely ridiculous thing to say.
Alright. If you don’t like noise go and live in a graveyard. Noise means human activity.
Bob, did you really plan to become the adult you’ve become, or was it an accident?
There is already a Bob Edwards Fan Club with thousands of members. You are an impostor.
Did I hear the sound of an aircraft flying over? The wonders of modern science.
Precisely, Bob, economic science tells us RSP business case is as pathetic as your arguments; medical science tells us RSP proposal will lead to much disease burden; and environmental science tells us the effect that the vanity project will have in Thanet, UK and abroad. Your nostalgia and prestige are just lame, but there you go Bob….
Jenny Dawes (of Judicial Review fame) has released the text of York Aviation’s report, which she commissioned in response to Ove Arup’s analysis.
You can read it here:
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/support-judicial-review-of-man/
But to save you the bother, it just confirms what everyone else says: that there is no unmet demand , and even if there was, Manston is in the wrong place to do the job.
York Aviation don’t pull their punches: they are highly critical of RSP – and their supporters!
Manston is where Manston should be and functioned perfectly as an RAF station. Throughout the Cold War, in fact.
We have a magnificent runway and good connections. A new railway station gives easier access, too.
Anyone can be “highly critical”. The easiest thing in the world.
Would you care to present an authoritative independent report showing support for aviation at Manston?
In comparison with the 12+ reports to the contrary?
And nostalgia is not an argument as far as the DCO is concerned.
Andrew, I do not need to present an “authoritative independent” report in order to express an opinion. I did not say nostalgia is my only argument. The means for operating a cargo hub are clearly there. It only requires the will to operate it and RSP will do it.
Robert, you’re living in the past. Manston was ideally placed as a WWII base close to the channel. That’s not where it needs to be to serve as a freight hub or even a passenger airport as all the experts concur. The runway is not magnificent, it’s the 11th longest in the UK and falling apart.
You’re right, it’s very easy to be critical when all the FACTS are against the airport but a highly vocal minority continue to ignore reason. If I were you I’d stick to polishing your shoes, it might make you feel that people will think you a grand person despite the complete lack of logic in your arguments.
Phil Shotton, Manston as an airfield existed well before the Second World War. Indeed, it was operational throughout the Cold War, used as a base for V-bombers. I remember them parked at the end of the main runway.
Given its history, there is no reason why it should not continue in an operational capacity, a revived cargo hub being a real possibility.
Thank you, I shall continue polishing my shoes because I like to look dapper. I bet you are a real scruffy geezer who thinks it a virtue to be so.
Manston however is not in the right place for a successful freight or even passenger airport, thank goodness.
Marva Rees, with a new train station nearby (Parkway) and new roads it will be perfectly placed.
Parkway station has zero freight capacity. Not much use for a cargo hub, assuming Manston ever gets any customers.
RSP admitted that a large share if its expected traffic would be derived by poaching from other freight hubs, such as EMA.
Now, why on Earth would a carrier, shipping freight to a well-connected distribution hub, in the middle of an extensive road and rail network, relocate to a facility in the remote bottom right hand corner of England, only to have it transferred by truck to the original distribution hub? When it could have stated on the plane for an extra 20 minutes and gone directly there?
Bobby Edwards is longing for the days when the bombers were at Manston, we had scurvy and polio, and proper men always has shiny shoes. If that is not the definition of nostalgia, then I dont really know what that is.
Dont be like Bobby.
Aaaah! Whatever happened to nostalgia?
Rubbish. Parkway station was purposely built for Manston. Freight can also be carried by road, besides.
Andrew, your scare-mongering is pathetic.
I wasn’t intending to scare you, Robert.
Re: Parkway station. It’s about a km away from Manston ex airport. On the wrong side of the runway, on the wrong side of the A299. RSP plan a cargo hub, the station is for passengers.
But, pallets or people, how do you get them from the ex-airport to the station? Then where do they go? If it’s anywhere other than Thanet, then there’s no point in disembarking at Manston. Better to go to Stansted, London City or EMA.
And what on earth is the point in carrying freight part of the way by plane, and then transferring to road? Wouldn’t it be better to fly straight to the transport hub?
You didn’t scare me. Scare-mongering refers to attempts to scare.
Great response to Andrew, Mr. Edwards! I’m sure your carefully laid-out reasons for having an airport will now convince him, me and all the others who read these comments that a non-stop cargo airport at Manston is what Thanet really needs.
I’m afraid Mr Roberts is an old fashioned dinosaur for whom reason is a foreign country. I imagine he also thinks that the louder and more often you say something false the more true it becomes. He clearly has not read a single one of the (now more than 14) expert reports that state that Manston has no role as a future airport, but continues to believe the lies of a struck-off solicitor who has turned several airports into housing estates.
Do you mean – surely not – that Mr F intends to turn Mabston into a *housing estate*??