Agenda item

Councillor King asked the Leader of Council, Councillor C Hart the following question:

“Would Councillor Hart tell Council precisely what action he has taken as Leader of the Council to address the proposed closure of Manston Airport?”

Councillor C Hart responded:

“The Leader put a motion to the Kent Leaders and to the Thanet Regeneration Board to propose that the Enterprise Zone be extended from Discovery Park to cover Manston Airport and Business Park, including the Richborough Corridor.  This was carried forward as an 'ask' to Government in the South East Local Enterprise Partnership Strategic Economic Plan which went to Government at the end of March for negotiation.

“Senior officers and I are meeting and working with the MP's, Kent County Council and other relevant departments as part of the Task Force to support the retention of the airport and should that not be possible to mitigate the impact of any possible closure.  We have a meeting in London on Monday.

“The Council is holding regular meetings with the representatives of the airport to try and identify timescales and things that the Council could do to support.

“Through engagement with the Thanet Regeneration Board we understand that Jobcentre Plus are available and ready to support anyone who is put at risk of being redundant and will need to find a job, they have proved to be an invaluable support service in other cases, for example when Pfizer sold the majority of their interest in Sandwich. 

“We have sent out a press release and contacted the business network to help identify businesses that would be impacted by the potential closure of the airport either due to their location on airport land or if they formed part of the supply chain. So far we have had five businesses contact us, it is still early days and some businesses will be waiting to find out what is going to happen. We have also worked with the airport to find out who their local suppliers are to contact them directly.

“We are monitoring the situation closely to ensure that we have the relevant information and evidence for the local plan.

“In short, we are working with Kent County Council, local MPs and the Task Force to do everything we can.”

Councillor King then asked a supplementary question:

“Should any rescue plan for the survival of Manson airport be dependent on the agreement of night flights, would Councillor Hart then support night flights for the greater good of the regeneration of Thanet and the success of Manston airport?”

Councillor C Hart’s reply to that supplementary question was:

“I am very clear on this one.  I stood on a manifesto pledge to support the Airport in any way I could but not at any environmental cost, and I stand by that pledge.  What I have been told is that at the public meeting that Roger Gale MP called in Acol last week, he was asked the same question and he apparently told the public that this was not an issue; not a reason for the closure of the airport; and had no impact on the decision.”