Having just got round to looking at the news in Thanet I
spotted this Isle of Thanet Gazette article http://www.thanetgazette.co.uk/Ukip-leader-elect-vows-Manston-CPO-work-begin/story-26489070-detail/story.html
saying that "UKIP'S leader-elect for Thanet District Council, Chris Wells,
has said work will start on gaining a compulsory purchase order for Manston
airport in "the next seven days.""
Anyway I think there must be something wrong with this
article, so I phoned up he council and asked them.
Is work on starting the Manston cpo going to start by next
Tuesday?
The answer to this one was. "No nothing can start on
any new council projects until after the new council has been formed at the
meeting on Thursday of next week.
Can the new administration chose a company to finance a cpo
and make the council start one?
The answer to this was they didn’t know but would try and
find out and let me know.
If the new administration were to manage to force a cpo
against the wishes of the council officers where would the liability be, in
other words say the cpo failed or the company financing the cpo folded, would
the councillors be personally responsible for the legal costs, compensation to
the owners for not being able to develop the site during the cpo process and
the owners legal costs in fighting the cpo?
The answer to this was they didn’t know but would try and
find out and let me know.
The picture is of the first commercial fleet of planes at
Manston in 1963 from the book I publish http://michaelsbookshop.com/catalogue/1997_twilight_of_pistons.htm
with chapter 1 published here http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/tp/
and chapter 2 here http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/tp/id3.htm
good reading if you are interested in the very early days of Manston Airport.
I guess my main concern here is because of the size of the
Manson site and the costs of fighting a cpo some of the new councillors could
wind up bankrupt, losing their houses and savings.
I don’t really know if "the next seven days." In the
newspaper article is a lie, some sort of mistake or if the officer I spoke to
at the council is wrong, but it doesn’t seem to be a good way to start off a new
administration.
If the officers have already advised against a CPO partner, what has changed?
ReplyDeleteAlso we still await the PWC report at the end of May, why the unseemly hurry Manston isn't going anywhere?