Cllr John Worrow beside himself

Cllr John Worrow

Thanet councillor John Worrow brands ex-colleague "hate criminal "

Independent Thanet councillor John Worrow disrupted a district council meeting tonight when he demanded to know why Conservative Ken Gregory was allowed to sit on the committee.

Mr Gregory had previously received a police caution for telling Mr Worrow "I hope you get Aids," in a malicious voice message.

Mr Worrow called Mr Gregory "a hate criminal" with "no remorse", berating the committee for allowing him to sit in the chamber.

Chairman Jo Gideon called to adjourn the meeting but Mr Worrow flung his agenda to the floor before branding the committee "'king hypocrites," and Mr Gregory a "disgrace" and marching out of the council offices.

The meeting then resumed. [However, there were unfortunate consequences to Cllr Worrow's action.]

thanetgazette 28th May 2013

Flight Blight

​Nobody mentioned the low flying planes before this reader bought a house in Ramsgate. Clearly this was dishonest. It also highlights one of the negative effects that the airport has on the local area.

Do any of you have helpful​ suggestions for our reader?

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Dear No Night Flights,

​I wonder if you might be able to help us.

We purchased a house in [central Ramsgate, under the flightpath] last year and were unaware when we moved in of low flying planes over the house on a regular basis to and from Manston Airport.

We were not informed of this occurrence by either the estate agents or the vendor before we bought the house and we would be very grateful to hear if you have come across this problem before and if you can suggest if there is anything we can do about it.

We realise that legal action would be expensive but wondered if this might come under the consumer act for example?

With thanks for your help and we look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely...

Manston's rat-plane nose-dives in Dublin

Aptly named Bin Air joins the pantheon of unsavoury and unsafe airlines that are welcome at Manston airport. It would appear that Charles Buchanan, Infratil's representative on Planet Thanet, is so desperate for business that he'll do business with anyone. This does nothing for the confidence or peace of mind of those of us who live near the flight path.

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Dublin Airport reopens after plane's wheel fails

​Picture from The Aviation Herald

The scene of a plane crash at Dublin Airport after the front wheel of the Bin Air aircraft buckled on landing causing the accident on the runway, Thursday March 7, 2013. Neither the pilot nor co-pilot, the only crew, suffered injuries, an airport spokeswoman said.

Flights at Dublin Airport were temporarily suspended Thursday when a BinAir cargo plane's nose wheel collapsed after touching down, the second such landing-gear failure to beset the small German charter airline.

The Dublin Airport Authority said nobody was hurt when the forward landing gear of the Fairchild Metroliner twin-turboprop aircraft failed.

The aircraft, operated by the Munich-based freight carrier BinAir, was carrying two pilots and a cargo of laboratory rats from [Manston] Kent, southeast England. It thumped to a stop with its nose on the tarmac.

Five inbound flights to Dublin were diverted and dozens delayed as authorities shut the obstructed runway. Unfavorable wind conditions meant it took about a half-hour to open a backup runway. The authority said flight schedules at the airport — the busiest in Ireland, averaging more than 400 flights daily — were back to normal by noon.

Thursday's landing-gear mishap was not the first for BinAir, which uses a fleet of about a dozen Metroliner turboprop aircraft and specializes in ad-hoc freight bookings.

In January 2010, a BinAir Metroliner skidded off the runway in Stuttgart, Germany, when the right-side landing gear collapsed upon landing. In that accident, the pilot reported a landing gear fault warning and aborted the initial landing, but ground crew said they could see the landing gear fully deployed. German air safety investigators determined that the right-wing landing gear collapsed upon hitting the tarmac.

European Union and German air safety authorities placed BinAir under "intensified" scrutiny, and warned it could lose its license to operate in Europe, but the airline undertook unspecified actions for "verified safety deficiencies" according to an April 2011 report by the European Commission's Air Safety Committee.

When contacted by telephone, BinAir owner Eugen Pansow declined to identify himself to The Associated Press and hung up. In a follow-up call, Pansow said he couldn't comment until he knew what caused the accident. He declined to specify the aircraft's age or date of acquisition.

The Fairchild Metroliner itself has had a troubled history. About 700 of the aircraft were built in many variants, chiefly in Texas, from 1972 to 1989. They have suffered a dozen fatality-causing crashes over the past quarter-century.

In February 2011, six people were killed at Cork Airport in southwest Ireland when a Metroliner operated by an Isle of Man airline, Manx2.com, clipped a wing on the tarmac and flipped onto its back while trying to land in heavy fog. That was the first deadly crash of a commercial airline flight at an Irish airport.

AP 7th Mar 2013

A hill of beans

"It doesn’t take much to see that the problems of one little airport don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world." - Humphrey Bogart misquoted.

Manston was to be barred from importing beans unless it was properly registered. Manston applied for registration and was refused. A few days later, it was accepted. What happened in those few days? Nobody wants to say.

Last year, Thanet was shocked to the core to learn that Manston might not be allowed to continue importing Kenyan beans at any hour of the day or night it damn well pleases. Nothing to do with limitations on their disgustingly anti-social night flights, of course - this was all due to the mighty European Commission trying to protect us from revolting poisons in our greens.

If you believed half the self-important hype that Manston spouts about its commercial significance, you might have expected the economy of east Kent to have completely collapsed by now. It hasn't. It may be a bit wobbly, but that's not down to ​beans - it's broader than that. ​No, the major effect of this ban would have been that Manston would have lost some, or even all, of its business with its largest remaining customer, Cargolux.

Understandably keen to beat the 1st January 2013 deadline, Manston applied to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to be registered as a Designated Port of Entry (DPE), the status that would allow it to continue importing the mission-critical beans. On 20th December, the FSA refused their application, as Manston failed to meet the standards laid down in Article 4 of the regulations, which relates to the "Minimum requirements for designated points of entry".

And then the odd stuff starts.

All the necessary bean-balancing and toxin-testing that is required by the FSA isn't done by FSA people, or even Manston staff, but by Council employees - probably Environmental Health Officers (EHOs).

You'll remember that Christmas fell rather awkwardly (or rather well, perhaps) last year, resulting in an unusually large amount of limbo time. Nonetheless, between 20th December and the end of the year, TDC managed to sprinkle enough fairy dust over this problem to make it go away.

Somehow, TDC managed to rearrange the workload for its already over-stretched EHOs, AND cut through swathes of Government and FSA red tape, and PHEW!​ ​ at the eleventh hour saved Manston's bacon. And beans.

​You would have thought that this level and quality of support for local business is something that TDC would be shouting about - ideally, they would be offering the same shoulder-to-shoulder commitment to more local businesses.

But they seem to be surprisingly modest about how much time and effort it took to solve the problem of Manston being unfit to import beans. Or what the ongoing costs might be. Or what the impact on the other services provided by the EHOs might be. Or whether Thanet's EHOs will in future be on 24 hour standy (and rates?) in readiness for a "delayed arrival" which, as we know, can arrive at any time day or night.​

Sandy sure is guilty

​A unanimous verdict on all counts. Cue lots of tutting, head-shaking and eye-rolling across Thanet and east Kent. Cue many changes of underwear at TDC, as the police widen their enquiries...

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Former Conservative Thanet council leader Sandy Ezekiel has been found guilty of four counts of misconduct in public office.

Ezekiel, 59, has been on trial at Maidstone Crown Court to answer charges of using confidential information to buy a property for himself , trying to force the owner of a neighbouring building to sell up by instigating enforcement proceedings against him, failing to disclose his interest in two Margate properties to Thanet council and misconduct in public office.

A jury brought back a unanimous verdict of guilty on all charges this afternoon.Co-accused Philip Emanual, 64,of Margate has also been found guilty of aiding and abetting Ezekiel by acting as a proxy buyer for 12a King Street.

The offences took place between September 2009 and February 2011. Ezekiel used inside council information on bids for a12B King Street, Margate, to secure the property for himself.

He then got pal Emanuel, who was best man at his wedding, to act as a proxy buyer for the property, and used his  position to ask for enforcement proceedings be brought against Alan Douglas , owner of 12A King Street, to persuade him to sell that property.

He failed to disclose his interest in 12B  to the council or Mr Douglas until after the sale had been agreed.

It is thought to be one of the first cases of a councillor being convicted of such a charge. Misconduct in public office is a rare offence but sentencing guidelines usually involve a custodial term.

Judge Andrew Nicol has retired to consider pre-sentence reports for the pair with sentencing due later this afternoon [1st March 2013].

thisiskent 1st March 2013

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Thanet councillors and officials are under investigation in the wake of the trial of former leader Sandy Ezekiel.

Property deals and personal interests of politicians and public servants, past and present, are being probed by police after extensive research and interviews with figures past and present. Several former elected members could face further questioning for undeclared business connections to developers and council contracts.

A Kent Police detective confirmed that officers are gathering evidence on several cases of major planning applications where councillors or officers may have had an undeclared personal interest in a scheme. The council is under increasing pressure to disclose more information about high-profile developments and the expenditure of European Regional Development Fund money.

Separately, the independent Information Commissioner, responsible for openness in public life and data privacy, is investigating claims of a Thanet council cover-up, after the authority has repeatedly refused to comply with requests under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. Most senior councillors conduct official business on personal e-mail accounts and therefore communication on matters in the public interest may have remained hidden from view.

A council spokesman said:

"Councillors carry out both TDC public duties, which are subject to FOI, and constituency business and surgeries, which may often be referred to as council business, but as private individuals they are not subject to FOI where any council inspection of these e-mails would be tantamount to hacking."

FOI legislation is clear: information commissioner Christopher Graham said in his 2011 guidance to councils:

"It should not come as a surprise to public authorities to have the clarification that information in private e-mail can be subject to Freedom of Information law if it relates to official business. This has always been the case – the act covers all recorded information in any form."

thisiskent 1st March 2013

Why throw good money at bad airport?

In the hope of finding why KCC are peeing our money away, we've asked Sharon Dawson (top banana at Visit Kent) some simple and obvious questions. We'll let you know what, if anything, comes of them.

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Dear Ms Dawson,

I understand that Visit Kent has been given £100,000 of public money in order to 'market' KLM flights at Manston.  My understanding is that you believe that this money is to enable you to bring visitors into the county as tourists to the county in order to spend money in the county.

I would be grateful if you could answer some questions.

1. What research have KCC or Visit Kent done in terms of revenue brought specifically into a county that has a regional airport? The research I have undertaken shows that regional airports are exporters of tourists to a very significant degree and that even those visitors they do attract  tend to head straight for major tourist centres, most notably London, Edinburgh, Glasgow etc. could you provide me with some concrete evidence that you have that shows significant revenue streams from incoming tourists at comparable regional airports?  I am assuming that such research must be available or such a significant sum of money would not have been committed to a privately owned operation?

2. Exactly how is this money to be spent and where? Given the aim is to attract foreign visitors - which countries/cities/areas are to be targeted and on what basis? I would like confirmation that no money is to be spent advertising outward bound routes given that simply takes money OUT the county. The UK's tourism deficit is already greater than in any other country so it hardly benefits our ailing economy, both local and national to spend public money on persuading people to spend their money abroad.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Council throws good money at bad airport

KCC + KLM + KIA = WTF

Getting a straight answer out of KCC is hard at the best of times - even with the legal leverage of the Freedom of Information Act it can take months. But it's usually worth the wait, and the dogged persistence is rewarded. And let's not forget, anything that's released under the FoI Act is stuff that they should have told you in the first place. By definition.

A man of Kent, showing the finest British bulldog determination and tenacity set about finding out if there are any hidden deals behind the recently announced KLM-Manston story. Eventually, he managed to prise these three sentences out of them:

I can confirm Kent County Council has not been asked for any contributions from KLM nor have we been asked to fund KLM.

We were however, asked by the owners of Manston airport if we would contribute to a marketing package to market both the route and the opportunities in Kent.

We have agreed a contribution of up to £100,000 subject to approval of a marketing plan and for the monies to be managed by Visit Kent.

Regular readers will remember that KCC and Infratil colluded in a bid to central Government which included a generous £600k sweetener for KLM - effectively "we'll pay you to use this airport". They were turned down, quite rightly.

We'll probably never know whether KLM had put pressure on them to cross their palm with silver, or whether KCC and Infratil are simply very generous (with other people's money), but it's depressingly unsurprising to find that they're at it again.

Everyone knows Infratil is selling Manston airport. More accurately, Infratil is trying to sell Manston airport - it's been on the market since March 2012, and the asking price seems to be sinking to the same level as airport-free agricultural land. Despite this, they have the balls to ask KCC for money to market and promote the highest profile route they've got (even though it isn't even running yet). KCC, unspeakable idiots that they are, agreed!

For reasons best known to KCC - but I suspect connected to EU competition regulations - they will be "laundering" the money through Visit Kent. So Kent County Council is happy to use public money to market a French/Dutch airline flying from a New Zealand-owned airport. And, yes, this is the same KCC that's cutting funding to things that people care about.

What makes KCC think this will be money well spent? And what exactly are Visit Kent going to be doing? Good questions, which we have asked on your behalf.

AWP postponement explained

Some TDC Members aren't happy with some TDC Officers. Well, an Officer.

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Subject: CANCELLATION OF AIRPORT WORKING PARTY MEETING

Dear Members of the Airport Working Party,

I am cancelling the Airport Working Party meeting which is scheduled for tomorrow [19th Feb] for the following reasons:

1.    The paperwork was circulated too late for any useful discussion with officers as to its contents (or lack thereof).

2.    My recollection from the original meeting was that the report should focus on what we as a council can do to support economic growth using the airport - and this question has not been addressed in the report.

I am sorry that Members (and indeed others who may have planned to attend from the press and public) may have been inconvenienced. I myself only had sight of the report this Saturday morning (16th February).

As well as asking Democratic Services to circulate AWP members and any others who usually attend, I will ask for Members to be phoned to ensure you receive the notification in time, however as Charles Hungwe is on leave this week, I am also writing to you directly. Could you please advise any substitute member you may have selected about the cancellation, and anyone from the public you are aware of who planned to attend.

I wish it to go on record that I am truly shocked that a report which was requested in October for a January meeting – and which was then delayed several weeks as it was not complete, has not been available until two (working) days before the meeting. This shows a complete lack of respect for Scrutiny and for the members of the working party. That the report only amounted to four pages really added insult to injury!

The report, “The role of Manston International Airport in a new regeneration strategy and overall economic strategy for Thanet” should be a key strategic document. Therefore I can only surmise that either there is no work being done on this vital topic (despite the request from Scrutiny), or we are not being allowed access to the council’s emerging regeneration and economic development policies, which is equally disturbing.

Either way, it makes a mockery of Scrutiny.

Since the main Scrutiny Panel agreed just last week to recommend that the remit and number of Scrutiny committees be widened, we need to seriously reflect on the purpose of the recommendation and its likely effectiveness if not supported by the administration.

Jo Gideon, Chairman, Airport Working Party

Airport Working Party meeting Tuesday 19th Feb

NEWSFLASH: This meeting has now been postponed. No new date has yet been set.

Oh joy of joys - another opportunity to see Thanet's finest in action (inaction?). The greybeards and hotheads will be getting together to apply their minds to the knotty problem of whether and how Manston might contribute to Thanet's glowing future.

Venue: Austen Room, Council Offices, Cecil Street, Margate, Kent. Click HERE for the Agenda etc.

The main topic of conversation promises to be a report from Rob Hetherington, TDC's Economic & Regeneration Manager (see below for an annotated version).

The Role of Manston International Airport in a New Regeneration Strategy by NoNightFlights

Bean Ban Bombshell

New EU rules will outlaw flying Kenyan veg into Manston, meaning fewer cargo night flights in 2013.

Thanks to the automated cleverness of the web, I get a steady stream of more or less interesting stuff from every corner of the globe. This little snippet is courtesy of the European Commission, and I think I’ve managed to get the right end of this new bit of red tape.

Since 2009, the European legislators have been heroically protecting us from iffy food. The sort of things they look out for should never form part of a balanced diet - Aflatoxins, Salmonella, Norovirus, Hepatitis A, Pesticide residues, Aluminium and suchlike.

Anything that they’ve spotted as being a potential problem - specific foods from specific countries - goes on a watch list. The watch list is periodically reviewed, with items being added and removed, or having the testing frequency adjusted.

Two of the latest additions to this watch list are peas and beans (in the pod) from Kenya, the cause of concern being pesticide residues  (in particular residues of: Dimethoate (Sum), Chlorpyriphos, Acephate, Methamidophos, Methomyl, Diafenthiuron, Indoxacarb). It doesn’t appear to be a screaming dib-dabs panic, as they only plan to test 10% of imports - the lowest level of inspection. These additions to the watch list were published on 12th Dec 2012 and come into effect on 1st Jan 2013.

So what? Well, I’ve heard many descriptions of the freight flown into Manston - cut flowers, fruit salads - but a recurring feature has always been Kenyan green beans. This is what Cargolux and others are flying in when they arrive in the small hours, in yet another unexpected late arrival.

Watch list items can only be imported through Designated Entry Points - DEPs are the ports and airports that have the Food Standard Agency (FSA) approved facilities for randomly testing the agreed percentage of imports.

Manston is not a Designated Entry Point.

These are the UK’s current DEPs: Belfast port, Felixstowe port, Gatwick airport, Grimsby and Immingham port, Harwich port, Heathrow airport, Hull and Goole port, Liverpool port, London Thamesport, London Tilbury port, Manchester airport, Port of Bristol, Port of Tyne, Portsmouth port, Sheerness port, Southampton port, Stansted airport, Teesport.

This seems to mean that as of 1st January next year, Kenyan peas and beans (in the pod) can’t be flown into Manston - unless/until the airport is FSA approved. The FSA website site has a handy application form, if Infratil are thinking of taking that route.

Of course, all of this is exactly the sort of thing that most modern businesses prepare for through contingency planning, risk registers, SWOT analysis, and so on. Manston’s business plan should be able to deal with one income stream drying up.

With a bit of luck though, we’ll be getting fewer night flights while Charles Buchanan manages this unexpected opportunity.

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