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Representation by Jan Hirst

Date submitted
5 September 2018
Submitted by
Members of the public/businesses
  1. The Isle of Thanet is a high unemployment area and sustainable jobs are required urgently. If an estate of houses were to be built on the land incorporating Manston Airport there would be jobs only in the initial development of these houses and not necessarily for local people.
  2. A cargo hub at Manston Airport would provide long term employment with skilled workers needed as well as ancillary staff to maintain the ongoing business which this would bring. Local people would benefit from a busy airport but not at all from an estate of houses.
  3. The local hospitals, doctors' surgeries, dental surgeries, schools and colleges are already vastly oversubscribed. The roads are busy and getting busier. If more and more houses are built it follows that hundreds more vehicles from these houses would choke our heavily burdened roads.
  4. A cargo hub airport at Manston would help to ease the freight problems that Heathrow Airport is experiencing and take care of those areas that other airports are finding difficult. With good local road and rail connections in place these problems would very easily be overcome.
  5. An important point is that Manston Airport has, in the past, acted as an emergency landing strip for planes which unfortunately get into difficulties. If such planes landed at Manston this would allow all other airports from having to delay or cancel or re-direct planes with the accompanying chaos which ensues.