As blog readers will know I have tried over the years to
hold something of the middle ground over Manston Airport, I would say
regardless of my personal feelings as a prominent local blogger I have a duty
to present both sides of the various arguments on major local issues, so here
we go with the update.
First is the forthcoming auction of airport equipment,
vehicles and so on, here’s the link http://www2.ppauctions.com/auction.php?id=121 And here is the link to the pdf auction flysheet with the
pictures of what they are selling now
http://www2.ppauctions.com/_assets/auctions/121/flysheet/Flysheet.pdf
and the notes about the next Manston auction:
“"AVAILABLE BY TENDER SEPTEMBER 2014
Control Tower / Airfield Lighting & Navigational Aids
inc: communication control system. ground receivers. master clock.
information management system (2008). telephone system. met
wind systems & barometer. glide path .non-directional
beacon. aviation localiser. Constant current regulator. UPS,
ILS etc.
Complete Chiller Facility, Portable Buildings, Sub
Stations, Security Equipment, inc: CCTV, barriers, swipe systems, digital
radios. Fuel Farm inc: water separator. microfilter. Qty pipe sections, valves
& tanks. foul water separator. tank quantity monitor & leak detector.
bunded plastic storage tank. pumps etc"”
Next come the various bits from Kent County Council, the
first being the Save Manston Airport group email to Paul Carter the leader of
KCC and his response:
“Thank you for writing to me on 16th May, 20th June and 23rd
June about this important subject. As you will appreciate, I have received a
large amount of correspondence about Manston with similar questions asked.
Therefore I thought it would be helpful, and for the sake of transparency, to
share a list of the questions asked, plus my answers.
Q1. Do you support a Compulsory Purchase Order for Manston
Airport, and would you be willing to allocate Kent County Council’s resources
to ensure a CPO is successful?
I recognise that many individuals would like a yes or no
answer to this question, however the situation is complex. Thanet District
Council (TDC) is the Planning Authority for Manston site and I understand TDC
has not yet taken a decision on the matter. Until TDC decides how to proceed,
and until such time as the ambitions of the current owners and any potential
successor owners of the airport are known, I believe the CPO issue is
premature.
Q2. Your register of interest shows you are a property
developer. Can you confirm you will not benefit from Ann Gloag’s proposal?
In no way whatsoever.
I have no private business interests in the Thanet district
and will not benefit personally from any proposal relating to the Manston
Airport site.
My concern for the future of Manston arises from being
Leader of Kent County Council and wishing to see a strong, secure and viable
future that results in a growing economy and creates jobs for local residents.
Q3. In whose interests are you acting? For the people of
Kent, for local businesses, or for Ann Gloag, the current owner?
My endeavours are to secure the outcome in the best interest
of the people of East Kent and for local businesses.
Q4. Did Ann Gloag lie when she bought the airport and did
she never have any intention of running it as an airport?
Ann Gloag articulated her intent to run the airport for two
years and hopefully bring it into profitability. When she bought the airport
last October, she said publicly “I am delighted to have purchased Manston
Airport from Infratil as I believe there is real potential for growth that has
not been fully captured. Having worked in the transport industry for 30 years I
believe I am very well placed to help maximise opportunities for both freight
and passengers at Manston”. That confirmed what she had told me the previous
month, on 5 September 2013, which is the only meeting that I have had with her.
On 5 May this year, the BBC reported that "the Airport will consider any
offer that is credible and viable”. I intend to meet her soon, and I will ask
her about her plans.
Q5. Are you concerned about Ann Gloag asset stripping the
airport?
Kent County Council is not party to any “asset stripping”
and I personally would not support it.
Q6. I think it was very short sighted of both yourself &
TDC to enter into talks selling the airport to Ann Gloag. It appears she had no
previous experience, and certainly was not credible. She closed the Airport
after only 6 months, so where was due diligence and background information
there?
It was Infratil’s decision to sell Manston Airport to Ann
Gloag: the Airport had been “on the market” for over 18 months and no other
bids had been forthcoming – It was the only game in town.
Q7. Don’t you agree that Manston Airport has been
deliberately run down by a series of owners so that it could potentially be
sold off for development to another company no doubt connected to the current
owner as well?
I have seen no evidence to suggest that the Airport has been
“deliberately run down”: the decision last year by KLM to start scheduled
flights from Manston indicates the opposite.
I understand the current and previous owners experienced
financial losses in order to keep the airport operational.
Q8. Please give us an overview of all meetings you had with
Ann Gloag and her representatives. Did you ever discuss housing and did you
give your Council’s approval of redevelopment of her housing plans?
I met Ann Gloag and her senior financial director back on 5
September 2013 when they were showing interest in a potential acquisition from
Infratil.
At this meeting, I was upbeat and optimistic about the
future of Manston and explained all we were doing to provide a faster train
service via High Speed 1 and I touched on looking at alternative uses for parts
of the airport site (such as aviation hanger space, servicing and maintenance)
to help subsidise the running cost. A change of use of the Airport was not
discussed. At the time of this meeting, Ann Gloag was on her way to meet Thanet
District Council to seek its views, particularly around operating hours. This
has been the only meeting I have had with Ann Gloag personally.
Another meeting took place on 14 March 2014 with
representatives of the Ann Gloag’s company, but she was not present. Her
representatives explained it was the intention to close Manston Airport for
economic reasons. Kent County Council had no foreknowledge prior to the meeting
that this was the company’s intention. There was no discussion of a change of
use of the Airport. No notes or minutes were taken at the meeting.
Q9. Why was the response delayed to the FOI asking about these
meetings?
I am sorry that two of the FOI requests were published two
days late. I have spoken to the FOI team about improving the response times.
Q10. Do you agree that mixed-use development would not offer
any meaningful employment, and will you support the public view against a
housing development?
As I say above, I have never discussed with Ann Gloag a
change of use for the Airport. Our current view is that Manston should remain
predominantly commercial. Should there be any proposal for a change of use it
is for Thanet District Council, as the Planning Authority, to determine the
application. I have so far not seen any specific proposal for any redevelopment
of the site, other than for an Arts Academy.
Q11. Does KCC want to encourage a 'Garden City' at Manston?
I do not currently support a Garden City at Manston.
Q12. Will you oppose any redevelopment of the site other
than for aviation use?
I will support what is in the best interest of East Kent and
assess any proposal on its individual merit. Our priority is to focus on jobs
and economic growth.
Q13. Have you met with RiverOak Investment Corporation
and/or any other interested parties? Have you pledged your support for them?
I met RiverOak on 19th June when I told them that they had
to submit a business plan for the Airport before I could form a view.
Q14. Have you engaged with the Chamber of Commerce about any
suggestions they may have for the site?
Yes: I have asked the Chamber of Commerce to see the plan
they have been drawing up.
Q15. What resources (particularly financial) are you willing
to give to support any prospective buyer so they can run the airport?
The Council is ready to support any credible investor who
can generate new jobs in Thanet. The Regional Growth Fund is already in place
to support good viable business propositions.
Q16. Are you engaging with Iris Johnson, TDC, Roger Gale,
and Laura Sandys, etc?
Sir Roger Gale’s Manston Working Group brought together all
the relevant parties (including the Leader of TDC and Laura Sandys MP), and I
am continuing to hold discussions with each.
Q17. There is airport congestion in the South East, and
Gatwick and Heathrow are being asked to expand. Why not keep Manston open, as
this may solve the problem? What information have you given to the airports
commission that are looking into airport expansion?
Kent County Council has submitted a strong case to the
Airports Commission on Manston Airport’s potential but this can only be
achieved if there are commercial operators willing to use the Airport. So far,
operators have not been forthcoming.
Q18. It is understood that cargo carriers which fed Manston
were hugely upset by having to move elsewhere and would happily return. Have
you explored this?
Several cargo carriers have indicated they would like to return
to Manston but those businesses on their own do not appear to be sufficient to
make Manston Airport viable.
Q19. Don’t you think Manston should stay open as it has one
of the longest runways in the UK and indeed Europe?
The long runway was Manston’s unique asset, and I would love
to see it re-open and for the Airport to thrive. But I am not a commercial
airport manager!
Q20. Given the historical significance of Manston and the
vital role it played in the Battle of Britain, could a future use be found that
focuses on this?
I would like to see the Heritage of the Airport remain and
become more prominent in Kent’s tourism and visitor programmes.
Q21. Could a tourism campaign not increase the passenger
potential?
The Council did support the Airport through its tourism
programme and would be prepared to do so again.
Q22. Have you thought of using Manston airport for aircraft
salvage and repair?
I believe this is RiverOak’s plan but without details of
their business plan, it is difficult to comment on it.
Q23. Have you thought about an aviation college to be built
so that the next generation can learn aviation and engineering, this would
bring many jobs to the area, builders, lecturers and of course students.
This could be an exciting idea but it would need to be an
adjunct to a viable airport operation.
Q24. Would allowing night flights improve the economic
viability of Manston?
Night flights were controversial when Infratil owned the
Airport but again I have seen no proposals for these.
Q25. Have you thought of supporting an enterprise zone
status for airport related businesses, such as freight operations including
establishing small package freight to adjacent airport hubs for global express
packages?
Thanet District Council's suggestion that Manston should become
a new Enterprise Zone has been submitted to Government. We have not yet had a
response.
I support the Enterprise Zone expansion.
Q26. Little thought has been shown to the former employees,
and your comments saying most employees have obtained employment elsewhere are
incorrect and insensitive. Why did you make this statement and why did you
repeat them at a meal last Wednesday?
The situation on the numbers of former employees finding new
jobs was reported to us at Sir Roger Gale’s working group over a month ago, and
I repeated that statement in good faith. I am sorry for any offence caused. I
do not have more recent figures but Kent County Council is working with the
local JobCentre Plus network to ensure that everyone who was employed at the
airport gets the appropriate personal and family help, including Job Seekers
Allowance and advice on job availability.
Q27. How do you envisage you will be able to create jobs in
East Kent to support former employees?
Kent County Council will work with the existing owner (and
any other potential investors) to secure an ambitious future for Manston and to
promote projects which have substantial potential to create significant new job
opportunities and drive forward the East Kent economy. Our track record
following Pfizer’s decision to quit pharmaceutical R&D at Sandwich is proof
of what we can achieve: there are now 50 new businesses located at the old
Pfizer site. Our Expansion East Kent fund has committed over £20 million to
businesses creating new jobs in East Kent.
Q28. Manston supported small businesses that did trade with
the continent? How do you intend to do that now?
The Expansion East Kent fund is ready to receive
applications from local businesses - there is an application page on the KCC
website. http://www.kent.gov.uk/business/business-loans-and-funding/expansion-east-kent
Q29. How come Lydd airport is expanding when the residents
don’t want it to, but Manston, where is supported, is closing?
The expansion of Lydd is a commercial decision made by its
owners and Lydd Airport’s plans to expand received planning approval earlier
this year. I am not aware that these would have had any impact on Manston.
Q30. Will you attend the next public meeting of ‘Save
Manston Airport’ on 19th July?
I have asked my PA to look at my availability and we will be
in touch with the organisers.
I hope these answers above are helpful in explaining Kent
County Council’s position and activities, and this full response answers the
questions that you had.
I know the closure of the airport has hit some families and
businesses very hard and I am personally reading every single piece of
correspondence sent to me so that I can ensure everyone’s points are taken on
board by myself and the Council’s Cabinet Members.
Kind regards,
Paul Carter, CBE”
Next is the TDC Labour Group’s position, here’s the link
http://www.thanetgazette.co.uk/Thanet-Labour-group-sets-Manston-airport-position/story-21316851-detail/story.html
As you can see this is going to be long old
post, I will endeavour to add to as and when I get the time today, so apologies
for putting it incomplete but I do have plenty of work to do in my bookshop
today
Of course standing back from the game of political football,
which seems to be running along the lines of. “I will publicise completely
unrealistic plans to save the airport and when these fail I will be able to say
I did everything I could, so if you are an airport supporter I hope you will
vote for me.”
What are the realistic and viable options for Manston?
I don’t think the RiverOak cargo hub option has any hope, viewed
objectively. On the one hand you have Ann Gloag with a long history of
transport related investment, busses, hovercraft, airports and when she has got
her hands on an airport which hasn’t worked out economically, she hasn’t
developed the site as something else but has sold it on as an airport. On the
other hand you have RiverOak with a long history of building houses and no
connection with airports that anyone can actually find.
There may be or have been a future for Manston as an
airport, but I don’t think there is or was ever any future for Manston an air
cargo hub and aircraft scrapyard. The mixture of environmental and economic
constraints that are peculiar to Manston make this solution seem totally
unrealistic.
It is what happened over this that is a big factor in making
the cpo route unlikely to work, the key being that because the water supply
protection work wasn’t done the airport never achieved planning consent as an
airport.
My guess is that in legal terms it wouldn’t be seen as a
closed airport but just as a big brownfield site that failed to tick all the
right boxes to officially become an airport.
The airport route that I think could have worked was an expansion
of the historic aircraft part of Manston and working in the general direction
of becoming a small regional airport.
Now another option with the site would be to go down the
road of trying to make it into a mostly industrial site, there are two snags
here, one being that there is a surplus unused industrial space in this area
and the other is the old water supply problem. In simple terms any industrial
site built on a drinking water aquifer has to comply to regulations that get progressively
more stringent as time passes, making it much more expensive for industry, and I
guess airports.
The next possibility I suppose is returning the land to
agricultural use, this would seem unlikely as I think the site value as
agricultural land would be in the order of £5m. the same sort of thing would
apply using it as a windfarm or solarfarm. The big thing that makes
agricultural land, greenfield sites, much cheaper than, brownfield sites is the
difficulty obtaining planning permission to build on them.
Now obviously Ann Gloag doesn’t intend that Manston will
remain an airport, a quick glance at the glossy auction sale catalogue makes it
pretty definite that she has no intention of selling it on to anyone wishing to
reopen it as an airport.
The cpo doesn’t seem very likely without a very wealthy
airport operator involved RiverOak just aren’t this, they are hardly coy about
their achievements making money out of real estate, particularly residential
accommodation, their press releases over the years confirm this, click on any
of the archives links on the page this link
http://www.riveroakic.com/news.html
goes to and you will see that if the had been a player in an airport they would
have said so.
A strange one really, as the main thing that makes
their involvement seem to me to be completely off the wall are the claims that
they financed Fort Worth Alliance Airport http://www.allianceairport.com/ this
actually an airport owned and financed by the American billionaire Ross Perot. This
is a bit like a very good privately owned café in Ramsgate saying that it actually
financed the Ritz in London and it makes
you wonder why and I guess saying so, without some verifiable proof would damage their creditability.
There doesn’t seem to be any signs that she would be looking
to build some sort of soak estate that is just low quality housing nor is
Manston big enough for a garden city.
As far as at aquifer is concerned, you can build
housing on it and although the drainage regulations are stricter than they
would be elsewhere, housing and agriculture seem to be the two easiest
options on aquifers.
There is however a conclusion to this, which I think, needs
to be explored and explored with a fairly open mind.
We have a situation here in Thanet where we have a huge
commercial site which has been loss making for many years, this has now been
bought by one of the wealthiest people in the country.
Very little seems to have been done to discover what the new
owner’s intentions are and whether these intentions would have local economic benefits,
however there has been considerable hostile activity from local politicians and
the local council towards the new owner.
Over on the No Night Flights Facebook page it was mentioned that Paramount have applied to build a giant theme park in Dartford creating thousands of jobs. Why can't we have a giant theme park with thousands of jobs instead of an airport employing a few dozen?
ReplyDeleteThe Paramount development is estimated to deliver more than 25,000 jobs clearly something that you Peter would not like to see on your doorstep. So tell us why its a terrible idea?.
DeleteHow would having our beaches eateries pubs and events packed be a problem?
DeleteAnyway Manston site has the same problem as Manston airfield its to far from London but if you ask roger then I'm sure he will disagree
It would be funny if it wasn't so serious. Peter Checksfield doesn't want a massive theme park because he thinks it would ruin Margate. Have you been to Margate lately?
ReplyDeletewestwood cross actually enables town space to be more easily utilised by independent owners, and stops local towns just being full of the same corporate-bland shops selling the same mass-mainstream stuff. it enables a better character. admittedly it's early days and independents are on the whole struggling (judging by the opening and then closing i see going on), but it's a question of time, and independents 'getting it right', and local support of course.
DeleteI'm not sure what "tourist attractions" you are talking about. The Turner Centre? The beach? - that's about it isn't it? Are you suggesting that people visiting a theme park might not then venture into town for a bite to eat or to dip their toes in the water? Surely, that's the whole rationale for the Turner Centre on which so much money has been squandered. And what happened to all of the concern about jobs? How can you possibly oppose something which has the potential to create thousands of jobs?
ReplyDeleteIs it not the case that you, along with the other airport supporters are playing a duplicitous game? You purport to want the airport reopened for the jobs it would create. In reality you don't give a stuff about jobs. You just have an irrational emotional attachment to the airport which means you will argue to have it reopened, no matter how uneconomic it is or how much damage it would do.
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteAnd to what do you have an irrational emotional attachment seeing how you purport to recognise this phenomena?
Does anybody know the result of the meeting between Ann Gloag and Iris Johnson?
ReplyDeleteEMBOB,
ReplyDeleteNot as far as I know.
Not surprised John, it will apparently take place today, 03/07/2014. I thought it had already taken place. Doesn't look good though with all the assets up for auction in the next month or so.
ReplyDeleteSeems today's meeting with Ann Gloag has gone down like a lead balloon. Iris Johnston says "the lady is not for turning" to quote a previous iron lady
ReplyDeleteI note that Ann Gloag has asked for the details of the meeting between her and our ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE Iris Johnson be kept secret. Since we as electors are represented then we should be allowed to know the details of the meeting.
ReplyDeletePeter market day today so I may not get a chance, so please just give me the gist of it.
ReplyDeleteWho is Mike Pearce? I don't care who is critical, I followed the rules and it was TDC who wasted their own time.
ReplyDeleteOh. Whatever.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, he didnt just comment on you Joe. He also moaned about the Save Manston lot. He likes a bit of a moan that one ;)
ReplyDeleteI see. Not a democrat then.
ReplyDeleteThanks for giving this update !!
ReplyDelete