A retrospective application to change the use of Hangar 2 at Manston airport from handling of cargo/storage/ processing of vehicles and HGV/lorries to use for car distribution, repairs and sales has been lodged with Thanet council after a threat of enforcement action.
Reclamet car breakers and recycling company, which has its main base in Birchington and has been incorporated since 1991, has used the hangar for the past year for processing car spare parts, storage and distribution by sale to both UK and European clients. An element of painting also takes place to renovate car parts.
However, in February this year Thanet council contacted the site owner to say the hangar was being used “in breach of planning control” for “business use”.
TDC said: “As you will be aware, planning permission was not sought or secured to use the land for the open storage of cars by your company and therefore the use is unauthorised and open to enforcement action. “
The correspondence also stated: “Should a retrospective application be submitted for the unauthorised use of airport land by Reclamet, it would not be looked upon favourably and therefore we will not be requesting the submission of a planning application.”
Thanet council says Reclamet’s use for car storage and distribution is in breach of Thanet Local Plan policy SP07 which states the site is safeguarded for airport related uses only.
In response Reclamet has lodged the application and documents submitted on the company’s behalf by Tony Michael Consulting question the validity of the breach and also raises the issue of pre-determination.
The consultant says the current/proposed use is identical to the historical use of the site – storage and distribution, adding: “A history of such use, and by vehicles of all types, particularly heavy vehicles, their inspection, storage and processing, is shown and in the public record.”
He adds: “Policy SP07 is the only contention of (Thanet council) – this is shown to be complied with, by both direct planning precedent in the approval of F/TH/22/1543 in June 2023 (an application for temporary change of use of land for a period of five years for self storage facility), and air-freight links that are presently being negotiated (for car part customers).
“Policy SP07 lies on extremely uncertain ground, based on a DCO that has been overturned once, was in direct opposition to the Planning Inspectorate’s position, and has just completed a further Judicial Review with its decision pending. As such, it may no longer apply within the next few days.”
In the planning application document, it highlights the employment of 74 people associated with Reclamet’s car storage and distribution operation.
It also says the “redundant and disused building has had an inconsistent history of occupancy.”
Previous uses are listed as:
2002/2003 – Operated by Manston Airport with a cargo imports and exports shed with security screening and Border Inspection Post, DEFRA and Environmental Health checks of meat and fish imported from outside the EU, and cold storage.
April 2012 – Operated by Manston Airport. Border Inspection Post DEFRA and Environmental Health checks of perishables imported from outside the EU, and cold storage.
May 2014 – February 2019 – Owned by Stonehill Park Ltd – vacant.
February 2019 – June 2021 – UK Government, Department for Transport for EU Exit Inland Border Facility and DVSA HGV vehicle check point under Special Development Order Town & Country Planning Act 2019 No. 86.
September 2021 – One day event, Kent County Council Highways, Vision Zero road safety event.
January 2022 – June 2022 – Film set location for Sam Mendez film “Empire of Light”.
October 2022 – April 2023 – Manston History Museum indoor boot fair every first Saturday of each month.
December 2022 – Two day event at Manston History Museum and TrainFor Grp. Christmas event and market.
May 2023 – Reclamet Holdings Ltd
The document adds: “No formal and consistent use since 2014 (and there has been) a history of use involving vehicles – cars, heavy lorries (vehicle check point by DfT for HGVs, Operation Stack, import and export goods check.
“Therefore vehicles of all kinds, but mainly commercial and large, have used, visited, been stored, inspected at this site, throughout its history The character of the site is established therefore for this use.
“The present use has been in place since May 2023. There is no evidence of harm to the public domain, countryside or any other domain, as evidenced by no enforcement complaints or actions.”
‘Negative determination’
The consultant also claims the application has been pre-determined, saying: “Aside from any other matters, this position taken by (Thanet council) made judgement on the planning grounds of the matter in the few minutes it took to write the email – without the 8-12 weeks such applications normally take to consider all relevant information, reports, evidence, drawings, planning history and planning precedent, not to mention statutory consultees’ representations or professional reports.
“It also violated the applicant’s rights to due and fair process. As such, the matter is now prejudiced as the Local Panning Authority has concluded its position and there is a bias towards a negative determination. If all planning matters can be so quickly determined, why bother with making planning applications?”
Thanet council says the use of the site is Suis Generis ( unique and of its own type or class ) The applicant says the use of the site is for storage of cars, reducing these to car parts, sorting and storing these parts and subsequently selling them and says this is within “storage and distribution use class.”
The consultant says the granting of an application for Capital Containers for a temporary self storage use at the airport site -which is owned by RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP)- in June last year was for “an identical site and location and similar use – with that use being acknowledged as non-airport related.”
A decision on the Reclamet planning application has not yet been made. The documents can be viewed on Thanet council’s planning portal, reference F/TH/24/0506.
Policy SP07
Aviation use only for the Manston airport site was included in Thanet’s Local Plan when it was adopted in 2018.
The Plan -which is a 20 year blueprint for housing, business and infrastructure on the isle – was initially voted down in January of that year by Conservative and ‘rebel’ UKIP councillors.
The vote, which led to the collapse of the UKIP administration, was prompted by a change of status for Manston from aviation-only to a mixed-use designation to include 2,500 homes. An amendment to defer for two years the mixed-use designation pending the resolution of the DCO process was not sufficient to persuade the majority of councillors.
The failure to vote through the plan led to the government stepping in to speed up the process. In the approved plan the 2,500 property allocation went to the villages, Margate and Westwood.
Judicial Review application
The airport site currently awaits the outcome of a judicial review application. In February, the Rt Hon Lord Justice Warby granted permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal against the dismissal of a judicial review application challenging the decision of the Secretary of State to make the second development consent order (DCO) for the re-opening of Manston Airport.
In his Order, Lord Justice Warby reasoned that certain aspects of the High Court decision warranted appellate scrutiny and that the remaining arguments relating to “need’ were properly arguable. A decision from that hearing is yet to be released.
Drift track
Enforcement action has also been threatened against a drift track operator at the airport site who has not received the relevant planning permissions.
A Thanet council spokesperson said: “We are aware that there is a drift track in operation in Manston. Currently it does not have planning permission.
“A number of complaints have been received from members of the public regarding noise levels. These are currently under investigation. Our Environmental Health team encourages anyone affected by the noise from the site to submit a complaint.
“Our Planning Enforcement team has contacted the site owners and business operators, and a planning application, for the change of use to a motorsport facility, has been submitted.”
The application for the track has not yet been published on the council’s planning portal.
