The Government has ignored this conclusion and given Manston Airport DCO the go ahead. The EA concluded that ‘ on balance the benefits of this proposal would not outweigh its impacts’ and recommended that the Government should NOT grant development consent.
The EA said: “the levels of freight that the Proposed Development could expect to handle are modest and could be catered for at existing airports” and that the would-be airport developer had: “failed to demonstrate sufficient need for the Proposed Development.” The EA also noted that, due to demand being met elsewhere, a new cargo airport is not needed, either locally or nationally. In 2018 an application was made to the Government for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to turn the disused site into a dedicated cargo airport.Īfter two years’ rigorous investigation, the Examining Authority (EA) (comprising a panel of four Planning Inspectors) appointed by the Secretary of State to conduct an examination of the application reported that the airport would: “ have a material impact on the ability of Government to meet its carbon reduction targets”. A former military airfield, this short-lived commercial airport closed in 2014 having failed under three previous owners. Manston Airport sits 0.3 miles from Ramsgate in Kent, in the far south-east corner of England. Please help by donating towards the legal battle today. The campaign, described in the Case Updates, has progressed from an initial application for Judicial Review, to the point where the Secretary of State for Transport is to re-determine the application for an order granting Development Consent for the re-opening and development of Manston Airport. This is against the advice of the Government’s own planning experts, which sets a worrying precedent in the face of climate change.Īccording to the Government’s own experts, re-opening the airport will damage the local economy and impact negatively on the UK’s carbon budget and our commitments to the Paris climate agreement. The disused airport at Manston has been given permission by the Government to re-open as a highly-polluting cargo hub. Kent’s Thanet coastline and a number of towns and villages are facing disaster, the effects of which will be felt much further afield. This is a local issue of major national significance. However, there has been one recent development: on, Harrison Grant transferred …
Spring is rapidly moving towards summer and still no decision from the Department for Transport.