THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF AIR TRANSPORT IN THE UK: SOUTH EAST

Thank you for including the Manston Airport Consultative Committee among the addressees of the consultation document on this subject.

The Committee met on 26 November to discuss the document. A list is attached of members who were present, and of those who could not be present.

The Committee thought that it was strictly speaking not within its terms of reference to take a view on the issues raised in the document, Nevertheless, strong views were expressed in discussion and a consensus view emerged, which the meeting asked me to pass on to you.

Thanet District Council (TDC), in whose district this airport is situated, gave a presentation of the views they had already submitted to you. These questioned whether a hub airport was necessary, favoured the option of incremental development at Stansted and expressed strong opposition to creating an airport at Cliffe. They pointed out that development of an airport at Cliffe would almost certainly mean closure of Manston Airport

(which they were disappointed had featured so little in the thoughts of the authors of the document), and would require the creation of alternative wetlands in Thanet. Both these developments would be major blows to the economic recovery of Thanet, still one of the most deprived areas of the South East, and TDC would seek a tailored and substantial package of support measures to compensate for the loss of the airport as the key economic driver of the area.

A number of the organisations represented at the meeting had already submitted views, or were in the process of doing so, all on much the same lines as those of Thanet DC. Apart from one abstention on conflict of interest grounds, the meeting was unanimous in giving general endorsement to Thanet DC's views - in particular, their opposition to the idea of a new airport at Cliffe. The economic and environmental consequences of such an airport for Thanet caused those present great concern. The meeting noted in particular that the continued development of Manston Airport, which was threatened by the Cliffe proposal, was of great economic importance to the area, which was why the airport received an unusual degree of support from the local community. Even the parish councils abutting the airport, such as Cliffsend and Manston Village, felt that the environmental disturbance they experienced from airport operations was a price worth paying for the airport's substantial contribution to the local economy. If Cliffe meant the closure of Manston, therefore, they did not want it.