Manston update, RiverOak Investment Corp’s bid to get the site moves further into the long grass.

RiverOak’s attempt to use the government to force the owners to sell them the Manston airport site so that RiverOak can build an airfreight hub there are now further delayed.

This is the pertinent bit “RiverOak informed the Inspectorate that they intended to conduct non-statutory consultation in June 2016, with a stage of statutory consultation towards Q3 2016 and with formal submission at the end of 2016.”

Click on the link for the whole document http://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/wp-content/ipc/uploads/projects/TR020002/Enquiries/23-05-2016%20-%20River%20Oak%20-%20Enquiry%203894855/160422_TR02002_Manston%20Airport_Meeting%20Note_Final.pdf

So what’s changed? Well this is the first official notification of two consultations instead of one and answers the question I asked RiverOak some months ago that they didn’t bother to reply to, which was roughly. “Is their internet activity part of the consultation process?

We are now back in the correct me if I’m wrong ballpark and as my post a couple of weeks ago about Manston, got no corrective comment I can only assume what I said there was correct, see http://thanetonline.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/manston-correct-me-if-im-wrong-another.html well here we go.

The Planning inspectorate have said in their advice that it is important that interested parties consult with RiverOak now i.e. in this pre statutory consultation stage, because the statutory consultation is front loaded.

I take this to mean that unless the content of the statutory consultation is decided by all of the interested parties then it is unlikely to be an effective part of the DCO. However RiverOak so far don’t seem to have answered any correspondence from interested parties.

My guess would be that without pre consultation input from those opposing the building of the airfreight hub, especially those who live under the proposed flight path who would be affected by the proposed 12,000 airfreight flights a year, which RiverOak say may include night flights, then the statutory consultation would be a waste of money.

So it now appears that this pre consultation consultation will take place sometime next month and my guess is that for it to be valid then some of the venues for drop in sessions and public meetings would have to be in the two main towns on the flight path, Ramsgate and Herne Bay. I would also think the main towns most affected by the rise in particulate air pollution and the resultant reduction of life expectancy that would be caused by 12,000 air cargo movements a year, i.e. being within the 10km particulate dispersal zone and upwind of the runway, would need venues for drop in sessions and public meetings.

A very important factor with the noise pollution issue in Ramsgate is the high number of listed buildings, some of these would be both difficult and expensive to sound insulate, provided that the council were prepared to grant planning consent to alter them.

And finally it looks as though TDC have stopped pursuing a cpo, see http://www.thanetgazette.co.uk/Thanet-council-action-airport-CPO-partner/story-29318926-detail/story.html 

I did eventually manage to get out and try to sort out yesterday’s watercolour of The Clock House in Ramsgate by changing the perspective to make both sides look the same length

This went on until I got white vanned 

And finally here are the books that went on the shelves today quite  few Thanet ones so here is the link http://michaelsbookshop.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/franklin-library-series-in-bookshop.html