Representation by Trevor Reynolds
- Date submitted
- 17 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
In the South-East of England development sites are at a premium and when they become available, there are always competing demands because we need housing, employment and better communications, to name a few.
I suppose I am passionate about Manston Airport because I have known of it for most of my life. However, if the airport wasn't there, discussions about competing demands would be rather more complicated than I now believe them to be.
We have at Manston, a runway that is capable of handling just about anything and it provides a real opportunity to take away some of the pressures from our existing airports. It is also likely that Manston would be taking freight long before the completion of the third runway at Heathrow.
I am not in a position to judge the merits or credibility of RiverOak as prospective partners at Manston, but they do appear to be serious contenders and they are nothing if not persistent. It also appears to me they would be more likely to succeed at Manston than previous failed ventures have.
The final point I would make in supporting the continued use of Manston as an airport perhaps states the obvious. If the site is developed under current proposals for a mixed housing, leisure and commercial use, flying will be lost forever. If RiverOak are given the go ahead and their project fails, all options for the site will still remain open.
Trevor Reynolds