A second legal challenge over the government’s decision to grant permission for the development of Manston airport has been lodged by Ramsgate resident Jenny Dawes.
The 1200-page document was filed yesterday (September 29) by Dawes’ legal team, Harrison Grant Ring following a regranting of the permission.
The first decision to grant a development consent order for the Manston airport site was announced by government on July 9 2020 after delays in January and May.
The Department of Transport approved the application to create an air freight hub at the site. A Planning Inspectorate Examining Authority panel of Martin Broderick, Jonathan Hockley, Kelvin MacDonald and Jonathan Manning had recommended that development consent should not be granted.
The first JR bid was then launched by Ramsgate Coastal Community Team chairperson Jenny Dawes with Ramsgate Town Council as one of the backers with the majority of councillors agreeing to donate £5,000 – and up to £10,000 if needed – of council funds to the cause.
In December 2020 the Department of Transport acknowledged that the decision approval letter issued from the Minister of State did not contain enough detail about why approval was given against the advice of the Planning Inspectorate and said the Judicial Review would not be contested.
In February 2021 the DCO approval was quashed. Further consultations and a report from Ove Arup, which agreed with the Planning Inspectorate panel findings, then followed.
The development approval was again issued this August by Transport Minister Karl McCartney MP with the DCO coming into force on September 8.
Ms Dawes has now launched a second Judicial Review bid and is crowdfunding for pledges to pay for the latest round of action.
She said: “Developing Manston Airport will cause irreparable harm to the people, environment and the economy of East Kent,” adding: “The second DCO decision is also flawed.”
Dawes crowdfunded £119,000 to pay for the legal costs arising from the 2020 Judicial Review (JR) and said: “The money we raised last time was used to pay solicitors, barristers, consultants and court costs in what turned out to be a long and complicated case.”
She is now calling for donations to help fund the second JR with a stretch target of £50,000.
RSP director Tony Freudmann said the second decision document from government is thorough, adding: “It runs to 65 pages and took 17 months to reach a conclusion. It is a really serious piece of work.”
He disputed the project will cause irreparable harm, adding that JR campaigners had not made “any reference to the jobs, training and education with the airport which will transform the economy.”
Next step
The Government legal department, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport, now has 21 days to respond, setting out their grounds for resistance to which Jenny Dawes’s team will then respond if necessary.
Within the next three weeks it will be decided whether there is an arguable case. If permission is granted, the hearing should take place no later than six months after the claim was issued, which would be by March 2023.
RSP say they aim to create aviation at the site with a cargo hub and associated business. Plans for construction will be phased over 15 years and will include 19 freight stands and four passenger stands for aircraft as well as warehousing and fuel storage.
Air space change application
An air space change application being undertaken by RSP has now moved to stage 2b.
The move to the next step, which was resubmitted twice, is part of a seven stage Civil Aviation Authority flight path process which has to be completed for a permanent change to airspace usage, such as a change of routes if Manston becomes operational.
Step 2b is an options appraisal stage and plans are assessed to understand the impact, both positive and negative. This is the first of three options appraisals developed during the process.
Part of this step will examine noise. The options appraisal document from RSP says on this issue: “The aircraft forecast predicts a gradual increase in aircraft movements between Year 2 and Year 20. This would lead to an increase in aircraft noise over time. Over this period there will also be changes in aircraft, with airlines phasing out older aircraft. This could reduce aircraft noise levels over time.
“However, Year 20 is considered to be the likely “worst-case” year in terms of noise, even considering the phasing out of some louder aircraft. The forecast assumes that total aircraft traffic will grow from approximately 33 Air Transport Movements (ATMs) for a typical busy day in Year 2 to 79 ATMs per typical busy 24-hour day in Year 20. These figures are considered the maximum number of movements for a typical busy day with fewer daily movements during less busy periods.
“An Air Transport Movement (ATM) is defined as each landing and take-off of commercial flights related to the transport of passengers and freight.
“There will also be an average of approximately 16 non-ATMs per 24-hour day in all years including general aviation and training flights.
“During a busy typical day in Year 20, Manston Airport is forecast to handle approximately 72 aircraft movements during the daytime period (between 07:00 to 23:00) and an average of 7 aircraft movements during the night-time period (between 23:00 and 07:00).
“Typically, the assessment of aircraft noise considers an ‘average summer’s day’ period of movement from 16th June to 15th September. This 92-day period is used to account for the increased aircraft traffic during the summer season seen at many UK airports. However, a reopened Manston Airport will focus on freight aircraft and the largest number of flights is likely to be during the winter season rather than the summer season.”
Other areas covered are air quality and biodiversity. A shortlist of flightpath options is also included.
The seven stages of the process:
- Stage 1 – Define
- Stage 2 – Develop and Assess (current stage)
- Stage 3 – Consultation
- Stage 4 – Update and Submit
- Stage 5 – Decide
- Stage 6 – Implement
- Stage 7 – Post-Implementation Review
When is this this woman and labour in Ramsgate going to think of the future for Thanet and the next generation I thought they were the party who want employment for the town local elections coming up next year this is what’s it all about.
They are thinking of the future-of the planet, not another failed airport of broken promises of mass local employment, pumping out C02 & ruining peoples lives with the noise. They should be closing airports & runways, not building new ones.
Steve – meanwhile I notice hundreds of house being commenced in Westwood area. That’s means hundreds of extra vehicles, more stationary cars due to traffic congestion and pollution up in localised area. All these house and increase in population, where will they get jobs? And you worry about a small airport. I despair for Thant and young peoples futures.
Well it certainly will not be at Manston Airport, it has never provided anywhere near the promised jobs-as evidence by the damning KCC report into its viability in 2015. How about a recycling centre where people could work instead?
Steve, the DCO mandates that an aircraft recycling facility will be included within the steps.
Such Irony R.John. Rather like the landmine companies profiting more from making anti-landmine devices, or tobacco companies profiting from vaping. Wouldn’t worry though, the airport will likely never open-seeing as Labour will be in power & reverse this in the not too distant future.
Bob do you know the difference between Mandated i.e must and authorised which means if you can find one we will allow it to be built.
It seems an incisive legal mind you are not
And while we are at it, let us uninvent the wheel, paint ourselves blue and live a blissful agrarian lifestyle in our wattle and daub huts. What unremitting joy awaits us in such a future.
Ah, Steve: CO2 can be very green. It is needed by most plants to produce Oxygen.
Fire can be very useful for keeping us warm. But I wouldn’t recommend jumping in one, or setting yourself on fire. Also if plants get too much of it they start losing nutrients & have various other problems. The old adage of moderation.
We’ve nowhere near the level of CO2 that this planet had in the Carboniferous Age.
Rather irrelevant as humans didn’t exist then & there was a mass extinction event later. We should know better & behave accordingly.
I wonder if she is associated with developer’s, she seems hell bent on going against the wishes of most of the people of Thanet just to get houses built, we don’t have the infrastructure and do we need to cover more ground in concrete interfering with the watertable even more. What gives her the right to push her opinions on everybody else
Don’t move next an airport if you don’t like the damn noise.
So Steve, where do you go on your holidays from then – Gatwick, Stansted, Heathrow? Suppose it’s alright for you and your other eco warriors to foul up someone else’s airspace as long as it’s not yours eh?
I heard the same arguments over 60 years ago when Manston was an American Airforce Base, it was shut down with loads of people losing their jobs because of selfish people like yourself.
If you want to close down Manston that’s up to you, but put your own money where you’re mouth is and not use the public to support you.
My brother lives right under the flight path even with the giant Antanov Aircraft going over their home and it never bothered him. Your typical of the NIMBYs of today who don’t want it in their air space but are quite happy fir it to be in someone else’s.
You people won’t be happy until everyone is riding around in horse and carts.
Its a con trick Brian! Should Manston aver re-open it will destroy Ramsgate, especially the Harbour with low flying aircraft at less that 300 meters high flying over it, down to 100 meters over Nevercourt! Hundreds of jobs, and businesses will be lost! This decision was made by Mackinlay to garner votes, because the Tory vote is failing! He thinks it will make him popular, don’t fall for it! The DCO failed initially because it could NOT show how much demand there was for a cargo airport, when other much better airports exist in the midlands, and at Southend with plenty of spare capacity! No, its a con trick, no jobs would occur unless you know how to strip down a jet engine, or are an expert in air traffic control! Mackinlay is a traitor, don’t vote for him!
Jenny doing amazing work-stop this waste of time of an airport which will fail like all the other & the air & noise pollution it will pump out until it goes under.
Nice to see Steve hasn’t lost his selfish attitude, think of the young people of Thanet, that will benefit from the high earnings, that an Airport will bring to the Isle.
By the way Steve, hope you have your Cheque book at the ready, Jenny Dawes is looking for a lot, lot more money for her wasted effort.
Selfish is destroying the planet for greed-look where decades of that has got the world. What use is having airports if there is no planet left? Think of the young people & those not yet born, by not destroying the planet even further for them.
We have heard all this before Tripod with the prior airports-huge number of jobs for locals & big wages, when the reality is it is mostly automated & earnings aren’t that great & job security sucks-why would they be? It is in the ass end of nowhere, with no public transport links & it will fail like all the rest since WW2.
If I had it I would give it. Let’s see eco campaigners Bono, Sting etc put their money where their mouth is & donate what they carry around in their pockets & also get some national publicity against this monstrosity.
Really. Fork lift operators is a high paid job- that’s what most will be, to lift cargo off plane onto lorry. Most of the skilled jobs will be bought in from elsewhere. Highly automated low wage – oh and night shifts- how else do you think the owners have any chance of getting business from the existing airports where everting is already set up and actually on the M-way network
If you are no convinced it will fail, why are you even bothered about the plans at all?
Why? Because it means more air & noise pollution in Thanet for the couple of years it runs, before going bust like all the others.
If there was any evidence of a thriving commercial airport there then the argument of jobs for locals & bringing wealth to the area-since 1998 the various owners have lost 100 million, with none ever making a profit.
KCC concluded there was no need for an airport there in 2015, last year an independent report concluded the same, so why on earth with those reports & the history of abject failure is it being given the go ahead?
https://nonightflights.co.uk/2018/03/24/what-is-kent-county-councils-view-on-manston/
https://theisleofthanetnews.com/2021/10/21/independent-assessor-appointed-by-secretary-of-state-concludes-case-of-need-for-manston-airport-not-proven/
why ? its probably all those coffin dodgers down on the nethercourt estate , that have retired anyway and couldnt care less about employment for young people locally
Jenny Dawes launches 2nd legal challenge And wants other people to pay for it .
So much for cost of living crisis .
People need their hard earned money for bills etc not to flush down toilet on airport challenges .
Those who do pay up better have deep pockets and plenty of cash as its going to cost a lot more than last time .
Most of her first attempt money was given by councillors I see in £5k rounds Which is there money normally given to charity. Legal aid isnt charity.. Because it was lost first time now lets hit RSP AGAIN.. DAWES people of thanet are skint love with cost of fuel bills and energy bills… Am sure tdc selling off Granville ask them for a cut you normally do.
Just let the airport go ahead, there’s always been an airport here, it was good enough in WW2 its good enough today ,thanet needs this airport for the future, with out this airport there will be no thanet for future generations, what else as thanet got to offer to keep thanet alive.
A front-line airport for national defence is a tad different to a fright hub !
Been here before though, haven’t we sort it out? It was going to revitalise Thanet not that long ago-lots of ludicrous promises about huge local, high paid employment etc & it was just the usual lies & it went out of business very quickly.
In December 2003 a Government White Paper on The Future of Air Transport stated that Manston “could play a valuable role in meeting local demand and could contribute to regional economic development”, and would support development in principle, “subject to relevant environmental considerations”.[8]
Development began in 2004 in an attempt to make it a budget airline hub. Irish airline EUjet, formed in 2002, began scheduled flights in September 2004 to UK destinations such as Manchester, Edinburgh, and international destinations Dublin and Geneva with a small fleet of Fokker 100 airliners. New car parks and a direct coach service from Bluewater via Chatham were introduced to support these flights.
In May 2004, the airport operator PlaneStation bought 30% of the shares in EUjet, and in January 2005 it completed its takeover by acquiring the remaining 70%. On 26 July 2005, the airline went into administration and all EUjet flights ended, along with all non-freight operations at the airport, owing to financial difficulties with the airline and airport owner, PlaneStation.
Its business plan was ambitious and when the bank lenders foreclosed many passengers were left stranded abroad.[citation needed] London Manston Airport plc went into liquidation. Operations then temporarily ceased, and Manston’s aerodrome traffic zone and radar services were suspended, until after a new buyer could be found.
I live on the nethercourt estate and I want the airport, it’s prats like our local councilor Dave Green who are against it
The Turkeys are voting for Christmas again-every airport operator there since 1998 have (in KCC’s own words in 2015 & KCC admit they themselves wasted vast sums of public money on it from 1998 to 2014, believing the hollow promises against any sense of reality) promised huge local employment, huge cash coming into the area etc & every one of them has lost money & gone & failed to employ anything like the numbers of people promised during their brief tenure.
I don’t think it is Dave Green etc who are prats, but those who go weak at the knees & start dribbling every time a new operator promises all this stuff & always fail to deliver. But hey, I am sure this lot are going to be different than all the others, right?
SMAa note that many of the Pre-action Protocols and timescales were broken in the lodging of this JR, and this means that no discussion with the DfT was possible regarding coming to an agreement with the DfT, the DCO regulations specify should be done first. before resorting to court action.
Ms Dawes and her legal team haven’t complied with the protocols, pre JR application, in that they have made no attempt at reconciliation without using Court time .
But if they want to flaunt the rules, as they appear to, that may not sit well with the Judge who is allocated the case ….
Hey Beau it seems RSP’s lawyers aren’t updating you
It seems the Government Legal Department were advised in time and decided to open a file and because they are so busy sorting out the mess KamiKwasi and Truss are making of the economy they advised they would wait to see the full Legals before responding.
Yet again the “experts” on SMAa are making much of absolutely nothing.
How much do you pay these legal experts Beau as they really aren’t value for money?
On Thursday 22 September 2022, a Pre-Action Protocol letter (PAP letter) was sent to the Department for Transport in an attempt to resolve the matter without resorting to Judicial Review. My understanding is that DfT declined to respond. This has left no other option.
It is high time that Tony Freudmann, Beau Webber and John Pritchard stopped holding themselves out as lawyers. They are not.
Jenny has an exceptional legal team of Kate Harrison, Alice Goodenough, Susan Ring and Jack Robirosa and barristers Richard Harwood OBE KC and Gethin Thomas, both of 39 Essex Chambers.
I would urge anyone in doubt of the negative impact this will have on Ramsgate to read the CAA documents and see the flightpaths specifically over Ramsgate Town Centre and the Royal Harbour.
It has been accepted and confirmed by RSP, the Examining Authority and the Secretary of State that this will have a “significant adverse impact on Ramsgate”. As such this is a matter of undeniable fact.
That’s interesting as a quick look at crowedjustice.com shows that the post put live today was written the same day that she sent the pap letter this shows she had no intention of waiting for a reply and was not DFT or rsp
The CrowdJustice site states:
On Thursday 22 September 2022, a Pre-Action Protocol letter (PAP letter) was sent to the Department for Transport in an attempt to resolve the matter without resorting to Judicial Review.
An application was submitted earlier today (29 September 2022) for Permission for Judicial Review of the retaken decision to grant Development Consent (DCO) for the re-opening and re-development of the former Manston Airport.
The Court action is with the DfT not RSP. RSP are merely an Interested Party.
Incorrect she put the article live on the September 23rd stating she had sent the letter on the 22nd if you then look at the update today it shows she had in-fact written today’s release the same day 23rd I’m afraid computers time stamp things like this and it shows she had no intention of waiting for a reply
High fun fun computers are notorious when you write a draft and then publish it later. Happens with blogs as well.
So you state it “was written” is the writing the same word for word as the published version
God help us It was clearly an automatically posted item setup when the first post was done since I have pointed this out I note they have now updated the date to the 29th interesting that JR felt the need to update this date does she have something to hide maybe?
Samara, I have never claimed to be a barrister or a solicitor but in this country the terms “lawyer” (and “attorney”) are not protected terms. Funny you should be unaware of that basic fact. I am not a DCO practitioner but then neither are you.
What I have done (and you have not) has been to thoroughly acquaint myself in DCO law and practice by reference to settled precedents, all DCO cases that had taken place or were taking place while the Manston Airport case was undecided and then after the first DCO was quashed. That involved thousands of hours of research, and I am exceedingly well qualified to undertake research and adept at it. My career depended upon it for fifty years, and I do at least identify,recognise and cite world class expertise in areas of jurisprudence that interest me including DCO law. I don’t know if you can’t or won’t but from what I have read including all your submissions during the Manston Airport DCO process, you don’t do that. In terms of peer-reviewed academic research and publications, I will stack up my track record against yours any day of the week. So will Beau Webber, an eminent physical scientist.
John, you always use the same approach. Pompous empty words, then hide under a stone when you are caught red handed with a half-truth-stroke-opaque-bollocs.
It is so fun to re-read your past posts as they have been all wrong. Well done, keep the legal hobby…
Yawn, bunch of liars and fraudsters.
BUT Bob you said before the last JR was successful that the JR would never succeed. I do remember your words on SMAa you haven’t deleted your posts have you?
Dr Webber, why does SMAa continue to mislead by claiming there would be no night flights, when RSP’s appraisal document states “During a busy typical day in Year 20, Manston Airport is forecast to handle approximately 72 aircraft movements during the daytime period (between 07:00 to 23:00) and an average of 7 aircraft movements during the night-time period (between 23:00 and 07:00)?
The judge had no problem and no hesitation in granting the first JR hearing.
What’s different this time?
And are you saying that you’re so obsessed with having an airport that you’d have it at any cost – even if the DCO process was illegal (which, indeed, it was)?
Andrew, the first consented Manston Airport DCO had a different Decision Letter than the second one. It isn’t at all clear that the first one would have succeeded at trial. It was quashed because for the avoidance of doubt the Government wanted to strengthen the section on need in the Decision Letter and the Planning Act makes no provision for amending a Decision Letter. That is a flaw in the Act which has yet to be amended in that regard. Had RiverOak known that the reconsideration would have become so inordinately protracted, they would not have allowed the scheduled trial to be vacated. The Government is currently takinfg steps to do what it can to simplify and expedite decision-making on nationally significant infrastructure projects. Making it possible to simply amend and improve or clarify Decision Letters would certainly be a major step forward and make huge savings in time and money.
Just to clarify: part of the text of my response to Andrew dropped out prior to sending:it was meant to say that it isn’t at all clear that the challenge to the first one would have succeeded at trial. The text of the Order was sound and the Decision Letter was stronger than many other DCO Decision Letters that overcame DCO challenges.
I’m sure that the Judge, who knows far, far more than either you or your mate Dr R John Pritchard about the JR process, will consider all the appropriate circumstances in determining whether or not to grant the JR.
What crap you are talking mate, everything was done corrcetly and damn well you know it. More misinformation to please the few who want this thing! Just for once and I know this may be against your principles TELL THE BLODDY TRUTH! !
How about RSP reveal their backers and give evidence that any airline businesses are seriously interested in moving to Manston?
All we have are airport fans stating their biased views and rumours of ‘talks’…..
Having a major airline going public would have a lot of sway, when everything RSP are doing so far is about removing any control from anyone local and towards the very pro-housing Planning Inspectorate that is also approving housing that TDC is rejecting….
Naming backers is not a requirement in the DCO process.
Who said it was?
Naming backers and genuinely interested business will add to their current zero credibility which is currently based on a very long list of failed ventures at Manston and other airports !!
To date only one company has expressed in writing they are interested
• As we know, during the entire examination process, RSP has managed to produced just one solitary letter of support from an interested carrier: MidnightZulu air.
• MidnightZulu Air was incorporate in 2020 and – according to latest filed accounts – employs just 3 people
• According to Midnight Zulu’s website, it’s aircraft partner is Magma Aviation (screenshot attached)
• According to the aircraft specifications on Magma Aviation’s website, “Most of the freight booked with Magma Aviation will fly on our exclusively operated B747-400BCF” (screenshot attached)
• As we know, 747’s are one of the oldest, most heavily-polluting aircraft on the planet, largely phased out for commercial use ….but still widely used by air freight operators, particularly at the lower end of the market
https://magma-aviation.com/aircraft-specifications/
https://midnightzulu.com/
So RR you are confirming RSP aren’t interested in being open and honest THANKS
Throughout the entire examination process and over the 6yrs since RSP was first incorporated they have only ever provided ONE letter of support from an interested carrier, which was during the recent SoSFT consultation. This was from Midnight Zulu air, which was incorporated in August 2020 and employs a grand total of 3 people. Midnight Zulu specialises in air freight of perishable goods from Nairobi to Europe, (so flying in green beans from Kenya – pretty much the only business Manston had when it failed before). All those who ludicrously claim Manston will be the greenest airport and flying magical, modern, netzero planes might also want to look at MidnightZulu’s website and those of its aircraft partner, MAGMA AVIATION. Magma’s website confirms that it “will fly on our exclusively operated 747-400BCF” aircraft … one of the oldest, most heavily polluting aircraft on the planet.
Bring on Manston Airport ASAP! Why live in Ramsgate if you don’t like aircraft flying overhead? I want my grandchildren to stay local and have the opportunity to have a decent job at the airport. Its also Thanet’s best financial input ever! It failed before as it only had 1 stand and virtually no investment. That’s a bit different to 23 stands and £500 million invested in it!!!!
It can have 100 stands but if no operator uses it it will be irrelevant. Does anyone really think that so much business is going to move from Heathrow- with its distribution depots already set up and bang on 2 m-ways and less than 20 miles from 2 more- to Ramsgate- 50 miles from any Mway – it makes no sense at all unless they’ve promised night flights, non unionised cheap labour and highly automated operation- all of which will be not much use to the people of East Kent. I wish it were otherwise, but just look at things sensibly and you must come to the same conclusion
We may not need the import hub at Manston, The way things are going we won’t be importing so much the way the £ has fallen and the cost of produce from abroad has already increased 50% this month we have trouble paying for food now let alone when the new cost filter through, have you seen costs for white goods imported as well they have risen substantially as well, we just won’t be able to afford to buy imported foods so supermarkets will have a lot of rotting produce or give it to food banks, this may well happen sooner than we really think. I’m nether for or against the hub.
Amazon air, to the relief of Southend Residents have withdrawn air freighter deliveries. That is 30 747s surplus to requirements and an end to Night flights
Doncaster airport to close and commercially unviable
And RSP think they are on a winner with telling the CAA on the 28th September 2022 that they expect 7 Night flights to be a regular occurrence. No remind me what RSP said. “watch my lips there will be no night flights”
It is the legal right of anyone to challenge a Government Decision, but that is not the same as it has the right to be heard in Court.
An experienced High Court Judge will decide if there is any merit in the application.
The protocols for Challenge are clearly set out, and it appears that they have not been fully complied with…That could sway the judge to refuse the application..
But then again he/ she may be feeling generous, and permit a Review.
There was the previous attempt, from which the DfT withdrew, leaving the Judge with no other option, but to quash the Decision..
He cited the reasons for Need to be better explained, all other points by the applicant, Ms Dawes, were accepted.
So, apart from Need, what else can be Reviewed in Round 2 ?
I cant see the DfT nor RSP throwing in the towel this time…
The previous attempt swallowed £190 +Thousands…What was gained ? A short delay, nothing more…There was no “Day in Court”…So it’s wrong to claim that anyone won the case….it wasn’t heard.
If this attempt is acceptable for Review it will rack up legal fees much larger than previously…
It will be very interesting to observe as this saga moves onwards….
It is high time that Tony Freudmann, Beau Webber, John Pritchard AND Liam Coyle stopped holding themselves out as lawyers. They are not.
There was a Court process it was won by Jenny and her legal team. That was why costs were awarded against the DfT and the Interested Party, the developer RiverOak Strategic Partners, but so far RSP have declined to pay. Perhaps SMAa could do a whip round and cover those costs for RSP?
Yet another waste of peoples money, just like the last time, give it up, look at the big picture, if you can’t, move, the airport has been a part of this area for many years.
And failed every time. Is it some kind of Stockholm Syndrome that people are desperate for 2-3 years of air & noise pollution, on the lies of mass jobs, when it is always overwhelmingly automated & then the company goes into administration?
See my post below with KCC’s facts about no airport turning a profit & no mass employment as promised & please tell me logically why you still want another airport with lots of empty promises about jobs & huge money coming into the area, when it has never been the case.
Just remember people Manston Airport was such an asset in the 2010’s that nobody wanted it & Ann Gloag bought it for a quid. That is the real worth.
I as I am sure many others have long wondered where Stone Hill & Riveroak were in 2013 when they could have each got it for the same price, before suddenly deciding it was worth 16.5 million quid.
Here it is from the mouths of KCC in 2015-all attempts at a commercial operation at Manston have failed since Wiggins bought it in 1998, not making a profit, nor providing the promised jobs for the area which appears to be only argument being made by those in favour of it-so how long are the supporters of this going to trot out these lies of supposed local employment for young people?
Manston Airport under private ownership: the story to date and the future prospects
03
Since the Ministry of Defence sold RAF Manston in 1998, the
airport has never made a profit and has never delivered on
its promise of jobs for the area. When the airport closed on
15th May 2014 144 people were employed there.
Since 1998 three companies have tried and failed to run
Manston as a viable business. The Wiggins Group, with its
start-up low cost carrier EUJet, launched scheduled flights
to twenty one destinations in Europe in 2004 but collapsed
into administration in the summer of 2005 leaving 5,400
passengers stranded. Its fleet of five 108-seat Fokker
100 jets were repossessed by Debis Air Finance.
Infratil Limited, which bought Manston from the
administrators in 2005, lost between £40 – £50 million
over the next nine years attempting to achieve passenger
numbers of over a million per annum. The highest number
of passengers was 50,000. Similarly its ambitious plan to
grow freight traffic failed.
Lothian Shelf (417) Limited, a company owned by Mrs Ann
Gloag, bought Manston for £1 in November 2014. In the
next 4 months the airport made revenue losses of £100,000 per week plus significant capital losses.
https://www.kent.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/29541/Manston-Airport-position-statement.pdf
Hopefully the new transport sos will not allow the appeal. When manston reopens it will be among the first airports to be built to the new net zero rules. Aviation is already working to achieve net zero,https://www.sustainableaviation.co.uk/videos/
Think there will be more passenger flights from manston that expected, see so many new homes being built in east kent.
Seasonal flights would be handy for us locals. Saves transport to gatwick or further afield.
The airport will be a freight freeport, our government seems to want freeports.
_–_
1) It’s not up to SoS for Transport to decide whether the JR will. E allowed. That’s up to the High Court judge
2) See previous post re MidnightZulu/Magma re the old,noisy, dirty 747s that will actually fly from Manston. This is so far removed from NetZero I don’t know where to start.
3) Zero evidence of any interest from any passenger airlines and long history of failure there. Also RSP in its own DCO application documents acknowleged the difficulties of operating passenger services from Manston given amount of competition in South East and small catchment area.
All that said,James, I’m very much enjoying the irony and hypocrisy of an airport supporter citing the growing number of local housing developments as a justification for reopening Manston. Hilarious!
Net zero rules ??
What with all the fuel tankers and HGVs stuck on the thanet way and M2 ?!!
1. There are no new rules, it is a strategy. It is like Manston another pie in the sky scheme from politicians, that hopes the UK will be net zero by 2040 & of course it will be another target they will never hit or care about-as none of them are likely to be in power or around in 18 years. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/skys-the-limit-as-uk-sets-out-strategy-to-reach-net-zero-aviation-and-deliver-guilt-free-flying
2. Yes, heard it all before-the KCC report from 2015 I posted made it clear the claims made by prior airport bosses of flight numbers never came anywhere near to the boasts & none of the companies ever made a profit, nor have they ever kept their promises of mass local employment that for some reason people in Thanet seem to keep falling for.
3. As I pointed out the other week being handy for locals does not make an airport viable. It is situated in the middle of nowhere, with abysmal transport links.
I wonder if this person does air travel herself?
It should always be the first question she is asked.
The first move to close the airport came in 1928. 94 years later it’s still here.
“Those who fail to learn the lessons from the mistakes of History….”
What is the carbon footprint of all her litigation?
And none of them them have made a success of it. In the words of the report from KCC in 2015, three companies since 1998-all promised mass local employment & none delivered, all made grand statements & none ever delivered, or turned a profit.
Those who fail to learn from history indeed. Why are you so desperate to fall for the same tired old empty promises about local employment & bringing huge money into the area yet again? It is like that film Groundhog Day-just supporting the same thing over & over again, no matter how many times it has failed.
“Those who fail to learn the lessons from the mistakes of History….”
You might apply that quote to the CEO of RSP, who, despite mire than a dozen attempts, has never got an airport up and running as a successful commercial venture. Indeed, he was in charge of Manston on at least one occasion in the past when it went bust.
Jobs?
When it closed, fewer than 150 people (most low paid, low skilled) lost their jobs. When Wetherspoon’s opened the Pavilion in Ramsgate, it created mire jobs than were lost at Manston.
What makes you think that a reopened freight hub will create more than a few dozen (low skilled, low paid) jobs? Because TF said so? He said there would be no night flights. Now he says therewill be 7 a night
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. Yet still they want to open it again
Keep up the good work Jenny. No one in Ramsgate wants this airport. Sense will prevail and we can all move on into a prosperous and airport pollution free thanet. Manston airport is going down.
Are you donating your hard earned cash on legal bid.
Cost of living crisis obviously don’t matter to some people but to others it does .
As Jenny wants £50.000 pounds let’s see who puts up the cash and probably a lot more after .
Well, if you look at the funding website, you’ll see that quite a lot of people have already put up quite a lot.
Last I saw they had hit 119k of 120k on the first one-so clearly a lot of people are passionate about it.
Dont you worry mate, the money will be found we will reach that target and beyond if required, but I suspect it wont get that far she will throw it out now that Govt depts have been warned to keep their spending within budget. No Shapps and his cronies this time either which lets be honest is the only reason it got this far!
You need to think of jobs if you don’t like planes don’t live near an air port
No-one in Ramsgate wants it? Or just some of your nimby friends? The vast majority of people I know in Ramsgate are all for it, and I’ve been here 49 years.
Why are they building house at the end of the runway ?
Who wants to live with planes flying less than a 100 feet above their house ?
Why would a developer think this is a good selling point ?
Just a small point for those promoting aerodromes at the moment, Doncaster/Sheffield airport is to close, now this an airport that is up and operating, not a proposal that has failed every bit of scrutiny (PINS) that was set before it.However, nevermind, Liz Truss has said she will support it, so that’s alright then! Or perhaps not.
I wonder if RSP want Liz Truss to support Manston?
For the doubting Harry’s, Jenny does not fly much, probably less than you do, or is that a failure on her part.
Please will the barrack room lawyers keep their lack of understanding of the law to themselves.We had all the same doubtful intelligence from them the last time, and when the DAFT and RSP lost, we had various idiots going on about how the English legal system had gone to the dogs.
Their outpourings are as reliable as Putin referendum or a Kwarteng budget.
I have said many times before for Thanet to prosper it needs to upskill and encourage investment in things that will produce jobs.We are a green energy hub already, for much less than an airport we can be a green energy powerhouse and help the nation and its long suffering energy consumers into the bargain.
Exactly George, why not make it a recycling centre & employ local people? If the argument of local jobs which as we know from past history with companies there is total fiction is the only argument people have to support it then let’s invest in green jobs.
When it went bust in 2005 it had just 144 employees despite the promise(lie) of huge local employment. There are probably far more people employed at Tesco or Sainsbury’s at Westwood, so why not just build another of those there instead? At least the jobs are real & not imaginary.
As a counterpoint to RSP
Ramsgate municipal closed in 1968 with the loss of 19 jobs
what is on the site today is Pyson’s estate
Pretty glad Save Ramsgate airport never happened
It beggars belief to see we are on this roundabout again. Yes there are ecology issues but several of the people I am aware of who are into biodiversity etc still fly to Spain, Cyprus etc so a tad hypocritical to be,against Manston on those grounds isn’t it? I am sorry but I have far better use for my cash than to fund another objection.
Taking away the ecological issues entirely it isn’t viable financially-
1. KCC came to this conclusion in 2015
2. An independent report came to the same conclusion in 2021
3. As stated in the 2015 KCC report-no airport there has ever been financially viable. Since Wiggins bought it in 1998 every company there has lost money-around 100 million combined & none ever turned a profit, every one of them promised huge numbers of local employment & wealth coming into the area, none delivered & all went bust, or flogged it off in Ann Gloag’s case-when it cost her 100k or so in a short time.
4. RSP is making the same old promises of huge local employment & huge wealth coming into the area. How many times do people need to see the same thing happen over & over for decades, until they stop trotting out the same nonsense as trying to justify it?
https://www.kent.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/29541/Manston-Airport-position-statement.pdf
The airport is doomed to failure and everyone knows it, including RSP who I assume have contingency plans in place to flood the site with cheaply built housing. The new train station suggests KCC know it too.
It would be better to nip this in the bud now and save everybody’s time and money – but then we wouldn’t get the misty-eyed comments from fantasists praising an airport they’ve conjured up in their heads: Biggles flying overhead in his Sopwith Camel waving a Union Flag, Craig Mackinlay flogging £5 plane tickets to Malaga from the back of a van outside as a fleet of electric barges bring in British-made cheese to export to New Zealand. A glorious future indeed!
Hope the challenge fails. I despair for the future of this area and this country 😢
How is a 3rd rate cargo airstrip going to be the salvation of Thanet?
Since Manston closed in 2014, the hospitality and tourism industries have blossomed here, creating far, far more jobs than ever existed at Manston, bringing in £Ms to the local economy.
If SHP had had their way, there would be a whole Industrial Park full of high tech industries, offering well paid jobs and no pollution.
Perhaps the IOTN could ask Tony Freudmann why RSP have declined to pay the costs to Jenny Dawes they were legally obliged to and when they lose again will RSP refuse to pay again ?
Instead of ramsgate council putting money up to go against the airport why dont they put the money up for clearing weeds in roadways and pathways and start clearing the s**t hole of a town up?? All these airport haters most have moved here over the last few years sold off back to wear you come from if you don’t like it open back up the airport I say!!!
Thanet lad
Lololol
You will find that pathways and roads are not RTC responsibility so you are blaming the wrong council !
I do find the pro manston local people very rude and one can only guess not well educated.
Anyway we all know manston will fail should it ever reopen.
Roads are KCC as are blocked drains
keep up
Really cheeses me off when I see Liam Coyle and Beau Webber commenting neither live in Ramsgate so won’t be affected by the noise and pollution a cargo hub will cause. Webber doesn’t even live in Thanet !!
Imagine wanting another airport when the 2000’s operators big plans, unveiled in September 2004 to great fanfare & all through the rest of the year & 2005 the local news channels going there for reports-where over time it became emptier & emptier, while the shills there bigged it up & then in July 2005 it went bust. 10 months!
Of course then you couldn’t find any media hungry spokesperson to talk to, just like Eddie Kemsley at Dreamland who you couldn’t keep away from the tv cameras for a long time after its fiasco of an opening, who soon leapt off to another opportunity in London when things really went South, or any of the other random shills there that took her place when it predictably all went tits up. Suddenly when the you know what hits the fan & closure is imminent or happened, they become very shy in front of the cameras & vanish!
So someone on here has quoted that Jenny doesn’t fly much, meaning she does fly over other peoples houses. Now there’s a word for people like that.
I wonder if the moaners have ever flown anywhere on holiday or business it seems like a case of not in my back yard also I have been in Thanet since 1975 and there has never been any been any want to create employment and keeping on about houses ,there are more than enough now which would people not from Thanet to fill them .Are the services eg Police ,Ambulance, Hospital,Schools Sewage etc etc etc the chance of airport taking off would create employment.
Except the prior airports all promised to create vast numbers of local jobs & bring vast wealth to Thanet & they all failed to do so.
The 2000’s venture started their budget flights in 2004 & went bust just 10 months later. Anybody watching the nauseating hype those ten months could see the reality when Meridian News & BBC SE news were there filming-empty departure lounges & that the business plan which KCC kindly termed ambitious, which anybody could see were totally impossible.
KCC in their 2015 report admitted they wasted huge amounts of taxpayer cash on these various follies from 1998-2014, in the hope these companies were telling the truth & could succeed & then admit the whole thing was a waste of time & money & that there is no viable commercial justification for an airport there, backed up last year by an independent report.
Yet here we are yet again with the gullible of Thanet falling for the same story yet again, as soon as the jobs in Thanet is promised people lose all sense of history & reality, rather like the incessant flag waving at Monarch deaths & lining up for a day to nod at a coffin for a few seconds-an airport that less than a decade ago nobody wanted & an asset stripper took for a quid & also lost money on suddenly is worth 16.5 million-get real. If it ever goes ahead it will be automated with a tiny number of jobs & be another huge money loser, before they offload it.
Philip RSP are planning a CARGO HUB
what part of that business model takes passengers
If manston brings employment opportunities it Will be a good thing aircraft are banned from Europe at that are over certain noise level aircraft like 757 a.320 lot quieter then 727s etc also the parkway station at cliffsend should be opening later this year it was built in 1916 long before the houses were built tooo many nimbys in thanet typical some things never change
It never has & it never will.
ER it was 1915 they had an airfield
No passengers were allowed on that base until 1959
Again, Steve the document you cite is not in the slightest degree relevant. Firstly, it was published before RiverOak embarked on the DCO process, a massive upgrading of the previous CPO process involving TDC. Secondly, as the DCO decision letter confirms, the vast majority of the site is now owned by RiverOak so the question of risks and judgment of need in the sense of demand is almost exclusively a matter of judgment for the Applicant, not you or me or any appellant. We in Thanet and East Kent generally will be beneficiaries. Any significant detrimental impact will be localised within a relatively small area of Ramsgate as the documentation prepared for the CAA by leading experts clearly shows. But just as you believe that RSP is wrong, and the Decision Maker and Government Legal Service are wrong, so you will probably say the CAA will be wrong when they engage proactively and positively with the air space issues and options set out in the documentation prepared by world class experts and published yesterday by RSP.
The localised area of Ramsgate to which you refer is Ramsgate town centre, Ramsgate main sands and the Royal Harbour and marina. In addition to many, many, many houses and schools.
The visual impact of a 747 bearing down at less than 500 feet is the stuff of nightmares. Let alone the environmental noise impact. It will destroy the town and the quality of life of its residents.
RSP, the Examining Authority and the Secretary of State all agreed that this would have “significant adverse impact on Ramsgate”.
The significant area of Thanet; Ramsgate.
It is highly relevant-KCC spent 16 years pumping taxpayer money at Manston on the promises of various companies who failed to deliver, lost money & didn’t employ vast swathes of locals as promised & here we are again with the same old promises.
Why would anybody believe the corrupt government? Those currently crashing the economy with their ineptitude? The prior incumbent who made Covid rules & then broke them over & over & number 10 became the most fined Covid breaches address in the land? Who wasted nearly 9 billion on useless PPE by giving contracts to their incompetent friends? The government who gave a ferry service to a company with no experience of running a ferry company, no ferries & who stole their T&C from a takeaway? Why trust the legal department of a government who said they can break the law as & when they please?
Why is a KCC report in 2015 & an independent report just last year of no relevance, when both came to the conclusion that no commercial airport there has never worked & there is no need for a freight airport there? Regardless of whether it is being funded by the public or by RSP, it will fail like all before it, be flogged off to the next money mark/asset stripper for a quid & create ecological damage & noise damage until it does.
With the Tories now conceding their biggest poll deficit to Labour since the 1990’s after this latest bout of insanity & rewarding the rich vermin who crashed the economy, while killing the poor, this nonsense will be overturned when Labour take office & it will be tied up in the courts for quite some time until then. If the Thanet Kerosene lickers are that desperate for an airport, then maybe they can move to Heathrow or Gatwick & let the rest of us get fresh air & sleep.
Please do share the CVs of your “world class experts”, John. Do you mean Sally Dixon, who admitted during the DCO examination she is no expert in aviation forecasting and had not bothered to examine viability, (and she was not asked by RSP to do so)? Or perhaps RSP’s founding director Tony Freudmann, a man whose CV is so woeful that he tried to distance himself from his own track record during the hearings, claiming he was “only a foot-solider” in Manston’s previous failures and there was no-one on the RSP team with any airport operating experience?
For the record, Freudmann’s well-documented long history of abject failures includes 16 directorships of spectacularly failed businesses and schemes over the past 20+ years. This includes travel businesses that went bust leaving holidaymakers out of pocket without any ATOL cover (because he didn’t renew it) and suppliers owed thousands of pounds. It also includes previous failed airports – in addition to Manston – that were very much the same model, (former military airfields, big promises of new cargo hubs from mystery investors who never showed up).
These include Odense, which went bust c.2005, leaving the local authority with a bill running into the millions, and Black Forest Airport Lahr, which went bust in 2014, with airport employees left out of pocket having gone months without pay. This was around 12 months before Freudmann started his latest Riveroak wheeze. Are these the world class experts you’re talking about?
A few questions every resident – not to mention councillor, our local MPs and, yes, local media (KB/IOTN and others), really should be asking …
– If we are supposed to believe this is a major investor with £500m+ to spend, who is on RSP’s Executive Team? Wouldn’t you expect to see this from such a company promising such large investment? Looks for all the world like a one-man band to me, (Freudmann), plus a bunch of work-for-hire consultants.
– Where is RSP’s corporate office? Has anyone ever been there? Who works there?
– I’ve seen a few very budget looking cars around town, (including yours), plastered with an equally-cheap looking RSP decal sticker on the bonnet, which I suppose in some circles might pass for a company car. But certainly not that of a £500m company. What’s that all about? And – for that matter – if you’re merely an interested and impartial Margate resident, why are you driving around and parking up in Ramsgate in an RSP car?
– RSP has been up-and-running since 2016. How many people have they employed locally in the past 6 years? How many have they employed at all? What progress towards those ludicrous numbers of local employees they keep promising in the past 6 years?
– Current accounts show they’re c. £30m in debt. Where is the evidence of the £500m they have “ready to invest”?
– Who are the ultimate beneficial owners? And what is their background? Isn’t this kind of important for us to know? We’re talking about people who want to own and operate a cargo airport on UK soil – particularly one that houses MoD equipment. Quite apart from the financial/offshore questions, there are clearly national security implications here too.
– If this really is a major company with £500m to invest, why are they announcing their plans via a mana with a career history like Tony Freudmann’s speaking in the IOTN, Kent Online or on Academy FM? Or in a Minster church hall to SMAa acolytes? What part of this sound “World Class” to you?
None of this adds up. The only question is how much damage will it cause to Ramsgate and wider Thanet before it finally implodes. Which is one of the many, many reasons why this ridiculous farce must be challenged – through the courts and beyond.
How many of these opposed to mansion ,fly from gatwick,Stansted heathrow,for holidays etc, if you do you are two faced, it’s alright for people living near the airport’s stated ,to have to put up with noise etc, but ,not you ,come one the antis,come and state you have never flown from ,any airport ever bet you won’t
I have never flown & never will. I don’t drive either-it is walking or public transport.
Good for you
There you are, you ask for those who don’t & then brush it off as irrelevant, because it doesn’t fit your belief-just like the cognitive dissonance with the Manston Airport past of abject failure & dropping to your knees in worship as soon as another lot come along making the same promises that never happen.
Hey Ray lovely piece of irrelevancy
It’s a CARGO HUB and I doubt you have ever flown in a crate
Yes I have ,that’s what we called the aeroplanes,we were put in ,when I was in the armed forces
You do know the difference between a passenger plane and a cargo airfreighter?
Having flown from RAF Manston we were called crew
I fully support this JR as the last thing Thanet needs is a planned cargo airport blighting inwards investment in Ramsgate for years even if the airport never becomes operational. The evidence clearly does not support it as there is no proven need, Manston is poorly connected compared to existing cargo airports and is in the wrong place, with the consequence that it would never be financially viable. That lack of viability has deteriorated still further in the last two years as a result of the pandemic and more recently with the prospect of significantly higher interest rates and a worsening global economic outlook. RSP have to raise hundreds of millions to make Manston happen and despite the bluster from Tony Freudmann it remains to be seen who is likely to invest given all the reasons not to. It is time this project is killed off once and for all and the focus can switch to creating real sustainable jobs that do not destroy the environment or the quality of life of a whole town and the surrounding area.
2 very small matters to add to the expertise already displayed by the Webbers and Pritchards et al.
1) Doncaster
2) RSP, alledgedly holding £500m of investments, has not paid the legal fees owed to Jennie by court order…
I dont get the view that if you have ever flown you cant be against manston.
Why ?
Manston if it opens will be a cargo hub, nothing to do with going on holiday.
Seeing how much spare capacity southend airport has and would make no difference in air miles to land at southend.
The airport is already up and running, with a much better infrastructure. Plus it’s the right side of the Thames.
Geographically, infrastructure are all against manston.
How are the two lane thanet way and the M2 cope with all the extra HGV’s and fuel tankers ?
All we hear from pro manston is it’s going to be good. But they never explained who or how the infrastructure.
So come on how is the infrastructure being moved ? What is the time scale for making both the thanet way and M2 into 4 lanes ?
It wont be the train infrastructure as they is no plan to build a haulage yard or build rail lines to manston.
I am all ears, so explain to me and I dont mean electric barges lol
What I mean you don’t mind the noise anywhere else just not on your door stop,not irrelevant I personally don’t want it opened,but should be opened as a green space ,for everyone to enjoy ,because we need green open spaces
actually we don’t need the 2500 houses displaced onto green fields by the Tories in 2018
This is great is like deja-vu all over again!🙄
Most support for a cargo hub is misplaced anti housing sentiment.
Support for Manston is making the housing situation worse.
It’s all just matey politics.
To those who support the airport
Moooove Onnnnn!!!!
preferably to Crawley
I now have to go out and so will be unable to monitor comments. That being the case I am switching them off until the morning. Have a good evening everyone.
So Freudmann complains that “campaigners have not made any reference to the jobs, training and education with the airport”.
We have, but – sure – let’s go through this again …
1) Unemployment in Thanet has dropped by more than 50% since the closure of the airport in 2014. In fact, unemployment in Thanet hit a 20yr peak of between 11.2% – 13.6% between 2010-2014 when Manston was last operating.
2) Any serious organisation promising the level of jobs RSP claims should have an equally serious skills strategy, backed up by in-depth consultation with multiple credible and relevant industry employers. Just 9 consultees are listed in RSPs skills strategy. This includes several members of RSPs own team, including Freudmann. There is no evidence of any consultation on skills with any serious, credible or relevant industry employers.
3) 7 local schools have been identified by RSP as being particularly and adversely impacted by the airport, which is a number that KCC disputes. Kent County Council also estimated the cost of adequate noise insulation for each of these schools is £300,000. Obviously, this noise insulation should be in place in year one, before a single 747 flies over these schools at an altitude of c.300ft – 500ft. The Secretary of State for Transport opted to accept RSPs derisory offer of compensation of just £139,000 per year for all 7 schools, (so that’s less than £20k per school), payable over 20 years. So those schools might be able to get soundproofed windows in by year 20.
KCC’s response to RSPs derisory offer – which the government is forcing on these schools – says this:
“KCC does not know how the education contributions were calculated or how the schools listed were identified. In response to the ExA’s Second Written Questions, the County Council provided an estimate in respect of the potential costs associated with insulating and ventilating a primary school in Kent as £300,000. The exact amount will depend on the matters listed in KCC’s response and KCC is not aware that the methodology has been set out in any of the applicant’s documents submitted and in particular the revised Noise Mitigation Plan.”
Here are the 7 schools identified by RSP as being those most affected in that “localised area” Pritchard speaks of:
– Manston School House Nursery
– Chatham and Clarendon Grammar
– The Elms Nursery School
-Priory County Infants School
– Masque Theatre School
– Fledglings Nursery School
– Ellington Infant School
So if you have kids in any of those schools – or if you are worried about trying to teach in them with the noise of a 747 cargo plane 500ft overhead several times an hour – I can only suggest the following:
– Help stop this atrocity by contributing to the JR Crowdjustice fund
– Raise awareness amongst other impacted parents and teaching staff
– Write and voice your complaint to you local MP, Councillors, headmaster and school board of governors
So that’s jobs, skills and education covered for now.
Jason Jones-Hall
Excellent post.
But as we have seen lots of times on this subject the pro manston never counter the anti supports. We like you make great points, well thought out points.
If we do get replys its normally “well move” they dont have any thing constructive to reply. They just believe blindly the struck off solicitor and his two mates the MP one who owns a aircraft company lol.
If you wrote this as a tv comedy every one would think it’s to silly !
I look forward to reading some serious replies as to why and how manston will succeed this time after 4 failures.
What’s changed ?
Certainly no serious comments as yet Jason
To many Yankers move down from London moaning,extra jobs ,needed 4 youngsters
Yes, #Rick, 4 youngsters sounds like a far more realistic number of employees Manston might manage than any estimates seen so far from RSP. I just hope they get paid in advance. Judging by reports of what happened at Lahr Airport before it went bust, (12 months after opening), Freudmann’s track record of making sure employees actually get paid isn’t great.
Very few Thanet residents are against Manston opening again as an airport; the one that are just want to see more Arty Farty shops opening in Thanet.
I was at school when the USAF was at Manston, it didn’t affect my education thank you Mr Jones-Hall.
John558
So how is it going to be variable this time round ?
PS a few military flying over is different to cargo planes ever 15 minutes
We do need the airport. I am just about to fly out this weekend and have to go all the way ro gatwick for the prvilage leaving many hours before takeoff. Why is there no airports in kent when we are closer to the continent with quite adequate road and rail networks. An airport is needed down this way!
It’s to be a cargo hub. (Are you flying out in a crate?
The airport failed because too few people used it when it was open.
If you live west of Canterbury, it’s quicker to go to Gatwick (a proper airport). There weren’t enough passengers living in east Kent and Thanet.
Nothing has changed.
There has been some discussion regarding the protocol for sending of the pre-action letter to the Secretary of State (SoS).
The process was explained by Jenny Dawes in detail, for the first JR (CrowdJustice case update 2)
in summary, the 6-week period consists of three stages:
• The claimant sends a pre-action letter to the Secretary of State (SoS) – approximately days 1 to 14.
• The SoS has 14 days to respond – approximately days 15 to 28
• The claimant sends a Claim for JR to court plus SoS and RSP – approximately days 29 to 42.
. https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/support-judicial-review-of-man/
The pre-action protocol states “The claimant should send the letter before claim in good time so as to enable a response which can then be taken into account before the time limit for issuing the claim expires, unless there are good reasons why this is not possible.”
https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/protocol/prot_jrv
For this second JR, they sent their PAP letter on 23rd September which was day 36 of 42, which left 4 days,
2 days of which were weekend, leaving the DfT less than 2 days in which to read what was probably a long and detailed letter, and then draft a response, in time for the Dawes time to send their letter to the Court. I do not find it surprising that the SoS was not able to do this in time.
The key here is that their legal team have decided to ignore the pre-action protocol and write to the Court anyway :
“An application was submitted Thursday (29 September 2022) for Permission for Judicial Review”
and also to write to the SoS and RSP … we understand that they are waiting ….
The Court should have replied on the 30th.
This protocol is only “best practice”, but to ignore it is not without risk and we have been told that the Judge is likely to take that into account.
Beau you didn’t mention that a pre PAP letter was sent to the GLD well before that so they have been fully informed. Anyway who makes a decision like a DCO during holiday season
Jenny Dawes on the Crowd Funding page :
“On Thursday 22 September 2022, a Pre-Action Protocol letter (PAP letter) was sent to the Department for Transport”
Which, as I say, was about which was day 36 of 42, which left 4 days, 2 days of which were weekend.
you still haven’t mentioned that the GLD were notified a letter was coming. Oh and who announced a DCO decision in the holidays after 6 months of ignoring the evidence gathered.
Pretty sure you aren’t a lawyer in fact none of you are.
This is just your way of announcing propaganda.
Let’s see what the real lawyers say eh old boy
BTW have you moved to Ramsgate?
ah No then it doesn’t matter to you just like it doesn’t matter to any of RSP’s directors nor MacKinlay, Gale etc. You aren’t sacrificing 44000 residents of Ramsgate
No doubt you can supply a verifiable source for what the judge may or may not take into account. Have SMA hired their own legal team or is RSP sharing their advice?
Thanetarians: excitable.
Beau Webber: Any idea when RSP is going to pay Ms Dawes the money they owe her?
They are still awaiting the itemised bill from Ms Dawes lawyers.
Er No you need to get your facts sorted
Have you become RSP’s spokesperson old boy
That most certainly is not the case.
More like BDB are dragging their feet over every item. After all, RSP has £Ms to spend on lawyers; Ms Dawes hasn’t.
So how does the infrastructure work this weekend with the M2 closed this weekend ?
Mr X, USAF were based at Manston Airport from 1950 to 1958.
They used F-84 Thunder Jets & F-86 Sabre Jets, these were fighter jets not heavy military planes.
John558
Yes I know that
1958 was along time ago are you suggesting we go back to living like its 1958 ?
I fail to see what your point is. I have never mention the 1950’s.
So I say again cargo planes every 15 minutes is different to the 1950’s !!
They also left in 1958 because of the many noise complaints
Reading some of the above comments it amazes me how many people are experts on running an airport (of any description) and how it will obviously fail due to previous operator failures. Obviously, River Oak must have spent millions already and, to date, have not pulled out.
On another point about Ramsgate Town Council not cleaning the streets, I understand that Westgate employ two street cleaners, so why can’t Ramsgate
You don’t need to be an expert to comment on the feasibility of Manston to be an airport.
Just read one (or more) of the more than a dozen expert reports.
Ramsgate employs three street cleaners.
I regularly see them out and about round the town, picking up other people’s rubbish.
Leyland
Are you another pro manston ?
Like other pro manston you believe everything the ex solicitor and two MP’s tell you than.
I am waiting for a pro manston supporter to explain how manston is going to work this time.
Why the the pros explain why ?
Theres lots of points they could explain,
How will it survive without the decent roal or rail or no direct fuel supply or its poor geographical ?
To answer just these few questions would be good ?
I dont expect a pro to answer any points raised.
You don’t need to be an expert on geography to realise Manston isn’t a hub unlike Heathrow, Stanstead and the East Midlands
It’s going to happen. Get over it or move on.