Representation by Martin Ward
- Date submitted
- 4 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Thank you for the opportunity to express my views on whether Manston should continue to be used as an Airport. Some background about me first. I have lived in east Kent for nearly thirty years and have enjoyed a well-paid professional career. Throughout that time I have spent - and now retired, spend - a considerable amount of time working with voluntary organisations assisting people less fortunate than myself. Whilst from a national perspective one can see the benefit of having a working airport in the area my support is, perhaps, more parochial. A lack of employment opportunities in east Kent offering skilled and semi-skilled employment is part of the problem facing the area and a fully functioning airport - operating in the first instance as a national cargo hub - would be a major step forward. Looking to the national stage, one can see very quickly the strategic importance of such a facility bearing in mind the lack of capacity at the major London airports. Returning Manston to a working airport as a cargo hub will work on both a national and local level and it will support many more jobs than those directly associated with the air freight. There will be many servicing and support opportunities and those in airport-related employment will then spend their wages with local business, thus creating a ripple effect out from the centre which will support further employment. Manston is well located with immediate access to the channel ports and access to the national motorway network. In short, east Kent needs jobs for the people who live here already and not more houses for people who, in-turn, will require more jobs that simply do not exist.