Sir Roger Gale MP (North Thanet)
Sir Roger also spoke about the significance of the WWI Centenary saying that it was a hundred years ago that Manston Airport was created and that post-Brexit we are going to need it more than ever. It is of national significance and no other airport can deliver what Manston can. He said that it always surprised him that so few people spoke of the importance of the aquifer. In a message to those who oppose the return of the airport, he said that they can be assured that the serious consideration given to the DCO will be entirely objective and that all views will count. He said that he only asked two things from RiverOak if the DCO goes in their favour; that the first aircraft to land should be a Spitfire and the second should come from TG Aviation.
(Editors comment)
More emotional than factual however for SRG this was very low key almost as if he was taking a back seat'
Tony Freudmann, RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP). (Editor comment in bold)
Tony began by stating the current position on the DCO. It
was submitted in April 2018, when the Planning Inspector asked for it to be
taken back and resubmitted. This was
done as requested and was resubmitted in mid-July. On 14th August, the DCO was
accepted, recognising Manston as a nationally significant airport. The clock starts ticking with the preliminary
examination starting mid-Jan 2019, then after 6 months the Inspectors have 3
months to write their report, 3 months for the Secretary of State to study and,
hopefully, completion of DCO mid-Jan 2020. Airfield works expected to commence
mid-2020 to cost £3-400 million, with opening mid-2021.
According to the Planning Inspectorate's own web-site, the
pre-examination stage typically takes around three months. Well if the
examination gets going on 19th of January that will be a full five months after
it was accepted for examination. During the pre-examination stage there is
supposed to be a meeting, chaired by PINS, to which all "interested
parties" will be invited. No mention of this in Tony's address. Anyone had
their invitation yet? Hard to see how they are going to fit this in before the
19th January when they haven't told anyone about it yet. (Peter Binding)
He has ignored the need for RSP to negotiate the land purchase through
a CPO. He has ignored the probability of a legal challenge, which could easily
take a further 2/3 years. (Simon Crow)
Pre-examination
At this stage, the public will be able to register with the Planning Inspectorate to become an Interested Party by making a Relevant Representation. A Relevant Representation is a summary of a person’s views on an application, made in writing. An Examining Authority is also appointed at the Pre-examination stage, and all Interested Parties will be invited to attend a Preliminary Meeting, run and chaired by the Examining Authority. Although there is no statutory timescale for this stage of the process, it usually takes approximately three months from the Applicant’s formal notification and publicity of an accepted application.
Examination
The Planning Inspectorate has up to six months to carry out the examination. During this stage Interested Parties who have registered by making a Relevant Representation are invited to provide more details of their views in writing. Careful consideration is given by the Examining Authority to all the important and relevant matters including the representations of all Interested Parties, any supporting evidence submitted and answers provided to the Examining Authority’s questions set out in writing or posed at hearings.
Recommendation and Decision
The Planning Inspectorate must prepare a report on the application to the relevant Secretary of State, including a recommendation, within three months of the close of the six month Examination stage. The relevant Secretary of State then has a further three months to make the decision on whether to grant or refuse development consent.
Post decision
Once a decision has been issued by the relevant Secretary of State, there is a six week period in which the decision may be challenged in the High Court. This process of legal challenge is known as Judicial Review.
In September, RSP completed the purchase of Jentex, the fuel
depot, which had been disappointingly sold off by the Air Ministry in the
50s. RSP now has it as a fuel farm. The Jenkins family, who owned Jentex, will
still operate it using local firms.
Did they really shame then that Land Registry still doesn’t show this
event on their computer.
The plan is to use fixed electrical ground power – not
diesel.
https://aviationbenefits.org/case-studies/fixed-electrical-ground-power/ Useful for cargo aircraft I don’t think
Flights will not be scheduled to operate at night. Exceptions are charity relief flights and
unavoidably late arriving aircraft, although the latter will be monitored and
steps taken if more than a few.
Departures will not be allowed out of hours. All aircraft are to be the quietest
possible.
Interesting no mention of the fact that Cargo mainly operates at night
and mostly via chartered flights.
Weasel words - because most of the night flights would likely be classed as chartered not scheduled. But the real myth busting comes from RSP. Their own application to the Government clearly states that RSP “welcomes support for night flights”. You can see why: they propose no cap whatsoever on the numbers of flights overflying Thanet and Herne Bay between 11pm and 7am! Instead they ask to be allowed planes deemed too noisy to take off at the London airports. And they ask for an overall noise limit which is higher than Luton’s. Howzat for myth busting?
Weasel words - because most of the night flights would likely be classed as chartered not scheduled. But the real myth busting comes from RSP. Their own application to the Government clearly states that RSP “welcomes support for night flights”. You can see why: they propose no cap whatsoever on the numbers of flights overflying Thanet and Herne Bay between 11pm and 7am! Instead they ask to be allowed planes deemed too noisy to take off at the London airports. And they ask for an overall noise limit which is higher than Luton’s. Howzat for myth busting?
It is hoped that at least 4 Ryanair aircraft will operate
from mid-2021. KLM/Air France would be
welcomed and given fair consideration.
Ryanair have just started operating from Southend where they have just
started operating, why would they bother with a defunct airport?
Sue Girdler and TG Aviation will be given precedence to
return and commence flight training.
LOL
Staff will have to be trained here to CAA standards. Previous employees will be recruited (even if
over 60). 5,000 employees will be
directly recruited locally by year 5.
Of course Staff will need to be trained but this only applies to ATC.
5000 by year 5 is a joke. Fire & Safety will be trained to relevant standard as will security. Operational staff obviously will be needed to train to operate however most cargo airports now use a high level of automation.
Doing what exactly?
Remember that this is primarily a cargo hub. So no big retail outlets, nor all the
security and passport jobs that go with passengers. Also, if this really is to be state of the
art cargo handling it will be heavily automated. Remember too that business won from the
ferries and channel tunnel are jobs lost to other businesses in the region. The
aviation industry has a habit of vastly over-estimating job creation whenever
they want permission to expand. No one
denies that there will be jobs created – but talk of thousands of skilled jobs needs
very close examination.
There is private investment available for taking freight by
rail to London in an hour or less.
By Tunnel lol
Tourism will benefit.
For every 80% of tourists going out, 20% will be coming in, generating
£200 million spending power.
In 40 years of chartered aircraft offering tourists the opportunity to
fly to and from Manston Tourism in Thanet has never benefitted although it is
true that locals forego local holidays to fly abroad.
Craig Mackinlay MP.
Craig said it should be pointed out that Southend and Luton
have zero unemployment. He mentioned a
town on the edge of Hungary which has a small airport. There is one carrier from Luton and gradually
more and more logistics firms are appearing.
KLM is showing an interest. Air
travel is popular.
Southend
Luton
Unemployment in Luton from April 2017 to March 2018 (6.1%) is higher
than the national rate of 4.4 per cent
I'm sure Craig spoke for longer than this precis suggests however typically information needed to dissect his comments is missing. KLM have made it very clear they will not return to Manston however.
KLM said in 2014
During KLM’s only year of operation at Manston
they were subsidised by Kent County Council.
They attracted only a 40% occupancy with 98 seat Fokker aircraft - the
catchment area was too small to attract enough business to become profitable
When Manston closed, the BBC reported that Boet Kreiken, MD
of KLM Cityhopper told Air Transport World that it was impossible to do
"business in a shaky environment".
"Now it is game
over; we will redeploy the aircraft. We are gone.”
"We can't flip-flop in and out all the
time. That is not the way we work."
