RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP), the company aiming to bring aviation back to the Manston airport site, has announced the completion of the acquisition of the Jentex site today (September 18).
The site is designated in RSP proposals as the location of the airport fuel facility.
The firm says the Jenkins family, which has operated the site since the 1970s as a fuel oil business, will continue to do so until the conclusion of a Development Consent Order submitted to central government. If the DCO, submitted for approval to compulsory purchase the Manston airport site, is successful Jentex will become the operators of the new fuel facility.
RSP wants to gain the DCO so it can create an international cargo hub with the possibility of passenger flights.
Plans submitted to Thanet council by Manston airport site owners Stone Hill Park are for some 3,700 homes, employment space, schools, a food store, cafes/restaurants, a 120-bed hotel and a health centre. Space for a small-scale campus for higher/further education is also planned as well as Kent’s first 50m Olympic sized swimming pool and a WaveGarden surf lake.
A decision is yet to be made on both the DCO and the SHP planning application.
A current planning application for a 61 unit extra care scheme, 14 retirement bungalows, 34 houses and 8 maisonettes at the Cliffsend site was submitted to Thanet council last month and is awaiting decision.
A design statement for the care development from site owner Anthony Jenkins says the aim is: “to provide a ‘legacy’ for the residents of Cliffsend.”
However, an RSP statement today says: “As a condition of the sale of the land to RSP, the Jenkins family required us to help them ensure the planning permission for an extra-care sheltered housing scheme on the land remained current, which RSP is happy to do and has worked with them to submit a new planning application to replace the previous consent. This condition will fall away when the DCO is granted.”
George Yerrall, director of RSP, said: “The Jenkins family is a pleasure to deal with and I am delighted we are building a long term relationship with them. We have always been clear that we want local businesses to share in the success of reopening Manston and I hope this is the first of many such relationships we will forge with businesses across Thanet and East Kent.”
Mr Jenkins added: “We have always been huge supporters of Manston and look forward to seeing it reopen. I take real pride in the knowledge that our family will be able to apply our 55 years of experience, in running Jentex, to the challenges of building and operating the new airport fuel facility – and I look forward to the next steps in the DCO.”
There is a current outline consent for 56 Extra Care units, and 56 other dwellings on the site. The new application increases the housing and moves the extra care building to a flatter part of the site.
A decision on the new application is yet to be made.
