The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport has granted the Manston site development consent (a DCO) so that a new cargo hub and associated businesses can be advanced. The project is promoted by RiverOak Strategic Partners Limited and has long enjoyed the support of both Thanet MPs.
Thanet perpetually has unemployment rates and average salaries behind South-East norms. A re-opened airport is expected to bring huge investment of hundreds of millions of pounds. This means new opportunities and a huge number of new jobs.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges Ramsgate Town Council to accept the decision of the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, work constructively with the Government, RSP, Thanet’s MPs and other local authorities and elected representatives towards the re-opening of the airport, and to refrain from spending more public money on further legal challenges.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Craig Mackinlay, Official Report, 26 October 2022; Vol. 721, c. 372.]
[P002776]
Observations from The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Richard Holden):
The Manston Airport development consent order allows for the redevelopment and reopening of the Manston Airport site into a dedicated air freight facility. The reopened airport will handle at least 10,000 air cargo movements per year while also offering general aviation, passenger, executive travel and aircraft engineering services.
The application for the Manston Airport project was first granted development consent on 9 July 2020. This decision was quashed by the High Court on 15 February 2021 on the basis that the decision letter did not set out sufficient reasons for granting the application. The quashing of the decision meant that the application needed to be redetermined, and the 18 August 2022 decision is the re-taken decision following the redetermination of the application.
A judicial review claim for the 18 August 2022 decision was filed within the six-week challenge period for that decision. How a case for judicial review is funded is a matter for the claimant and is not something the Department is able to comment on.