MP calls for compulsory purchase of Manston airport

North Thanet MP Sir Roger Gale, and South Thanet MP Laura Sandys, say they have told Thanet District Council that it should consider the option of the buy out. Sir Roger said: 

Sir Roger Gale MP

Laura Sandys and I are of the view, which I have reason to understand is shared by the new Labour Leadership of Thanet District Council and by the Conservative Opposition, that with the closure of the airfield the best way to secure a new future for aviation at Manston will be for a Compulsory Order to be placed upon the site which has, at present, planning consent only as an airport. This is detailed in the very recent draft of the local plan so there should be little difficulty in establishing existing use and thus for the local authority to acquire and then perhaps lease out or sell on the site at a sensible price.

Clearly the council will wish to prepare its own study of options based upon legal advice but the opinion that we have been offered is that a bid to place a CPO on the airfield would succeed and that it could be readily funded. If that is so then it ought to be possible to remove the airport from the hands of those who clearly have other objectives and to restore Manston to its rightful place as part of our airport capacity in the South East.

From the work that has already been done we have good reason to believe that those who wish to re-open the airport and have the capacity to do so have every chance of succeeding where others have seemingly chosen to fail and we hope and expect that TDC`s senior officers, acting on instructions from elected members, will take a very robust line. We have to dispel the impression given, arising from discussions that apparently took place with TDC officers earlier in the year, that housing is a "done deal" and that anything other than airport use is on the agenda. As Iris Johnston has made publicly clear, it is not.

The airport closed on Thursday with the loss of 150 direct jobs. Earlier this month the Thanet Gazette revealed talks had taken place between airport representatives and council officers and members about including plans for 1,000 on Manston's Northern Grass in the Local Plan.

Thanet Gazette 19th May 2014