Minutes:
Councillor Worrow asked the Leader the following question:
"Will the leader welcome the clarity with which Mr Justice Dove confirmed that Mr Justice Lane was correct in determining in the High Court that Jenny Dawes had no arguable case for judicial review of the Manston Airport DCO, and will the leader tell us what action he is going to take in order to ensure that the cargo hub works in the interests of Thanet's residents?"
The Leader responded with the following points:
· It wasn’t the job of Mr Justice Dove to decide whether Jenny Dawes had an arguable case, it was his job to decide the merits of the case, that’s the decision he actually reached. As for clarity, we’ve been waiting for clarity for a very long time, we’re not quite there yet.
· The delays in the process have been the cause of frustration to the council’s local review process, and a final decision would be welcome. But there is still a further route to appeal and until the legal processes have been completed, there is a level of uncertainty.
· Once the legal processes have concluded, and, if the DCO stands at the end of them, the council will work with Riveroak Strategic Partners to consider all of the outstanding planning requirements, within the DCO, that have been reserved for the council to determine.
· Nine years of inaction at Manston have been a lost opportunity for the whole of Thanet. Whichever side of the debate you’ve been on, because our economy needs growth and growth could have been delivered at Manston by one solution or the other. The fact that we’ve had neither has been no benefit to the community. The uncertainty has been a blight on Ramsgate, because Ramsgate is principally the area affected by the flight path. But it’s North Thanet that suffered most from the decision to protect the airport in the Local Plan and in particular, in July 2018, this Council moved 2,500 homes in the Local Plan from the airport, largely onto agricultural land, 1,600 of those were to the rural areas surrounding Westgate and Birchington. That’s in the Council minutes and anybody can see it. Labour Group at the time was very small, did not support that proposal. Carbon emissions quite obviously respect no boundaries and they are an issue and will continue to be. What I do want to say tonight is this administration will respect the outcome of the legal process and we will put the whole of Thanet first as we would do in every decision that we make. After all, Labour Councillors represent almost every part of it now.
Councillor Worrow asked a supplementary question:
Under the leadership of Clive Hart and then Iris Johnson, you and myself stood together in support of Manston Airport, will you publicly declare your support for Manston Airport?
Councillor Everitt responded by stating:
That he did not stand on a manifesto supporting the airport in 2015. He thought that the whole issue of the electors of Thanet casting their votes for and against the airport had been massively overstated by all sides. He confirmed that he had a view on the airport, but as leader he had a responsibility and intended to discharge that responsibility in a proper way.