Herne Bay residents will be delighted that our Council has finally stirred itself. They will be looking at all the responses from the CCC area, collating them, and presenting Canterbury's considered opinion.
Hopefully, this will mean that the views of Herne Bay residents will, in effect, be presented twice - firstly in TDC's analysis of the responses, and secondly when reiterated by Canterbury.
Council urges residents to give airport views
Canterbury City Council is urging local residents to have their say about proposals for regular night flights at Manston Airport. Thanet District Council has begun a month of consultation to find out people’s views on night flying at the airport, and with Herne Bay directly on the flight path, the city council is keen to ensure the town’s residents in particular give their comments. Executive member for transport, Cllr Peter Vickery-Jones, said:
“Thanet District Council has now changed its approach to this consultation. Previously it was planning to carry out a wide ranging consultation, including contacting thousands of homes directly to hear views. And we, as a city council, had paid some of the cost of this in order to ensure some Herne Bay properties were included. Now, it is just holding a standard consultation in which people are being given the opportunity to comment on the proposals.
I am urging everyone in Herne Bay in particular, and people across the rest of the district in general, to take part in this consultation and tell Thanet District Council what they think about the possibility of regular night flights at Manston. It is vital our residents take this opportunity to make their views known.”
The proposals by the airport’s owners Infratil, the results of assessments commissioned by Thanet District Council and details of how to get involved in the consultation are on Thanet's website. Comments should be submitted by Friday 2 March. Everyone taking part is required to give a name and address, including the post code. This is so particular attention can be paid to those people who live on the identified flight path and are directly affected by the proposal.
Cllr Vickery-Jones added:
“Once the deadline has passed, we have agreed with Thanet District Council that we will see all the comments from people with a Canterbury district post code. This will then enable us to formally write to Thanet, summarising the views of our residents and ensuring they take the feedback from our district into consideration.”