Member Article

Confirmed: Newly-elected Thanet Council to review Manston Airport CPO decision

The newly-elected, UKIP-led Thanet District Council has confirmed it will review the decision by its predecessors not to pursue a compulsory purchase of the Manston Airport site.

The decision follows a meeting held earlier this week, and would mean the defunct airport could return to council-hands.

Kent County Council has said it cannot support a compulsory purchase order on the information currently available.

The current landowners, Trevor Cartner and Chris Musgrave, have said they would fight “tooth and nail” for the site, according to the BBC.

The developers want to develop the airport, which closed in May 2014, into a mixed-use development for businesses and homes, creating thousands of jobs in the process.

Thanet council leader Christopher Wells said: “There is in office a group of people who actually want to see this happen and will do everything they can to make it happen.”

During a separate meeting on Thursday, Kent County Council leader Paul Carter said he had seen no credible proposal to restore Manston to a viable airport.

Ray Mallon, spokesman for the owners of Manston said: “We will fight tooth and nail where this process is concerned. I truly believe that we will win. The whole case is built on sand.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .