Doing battle with a naked Emperor

NEWSFLASH: the real reasons Flybe quit Manston - click HERE

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Medway Council are ready for battle. CPRE Protect Kent are ready to grab the opportunity to point out that the Emperors of Aviation are naked, and (quite brilliantly) want to inject a little democracy into the process. Best of luck guys.

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Cllr Rodney ChambersA fierce opponent of a Thames Estuary airport has vowed to fight all the way to the top as controversial plans take a step forward. Medway Council leader Cllr Rodney Chambers wants to work with the Towns' MPs to secure a crisis meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron or Chancellor George Osborne. Mr Cameron was set to announce preliminary backing for a huge airport potentially off the Kent coast - which would dwarf the size of Heathrow - earlier this month, according to a national newspaper.

It follows plans put forward by both London Mayor Boris Johnson and world-renowned architect Lord Foster for airports on different sites around Kent. The announcement would have been linked in with the High Speed 2 rail announcement, but was put back because it was claimed by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg it was 'being rushed through', according to the paper. Now it is believed the scheme will be unveiled in March, with the Prime Minister broadly backing the plans dependent on consultation.

Cllr Chambers said:

“We tried meeting with Boris Johnson and we were fobbed off with his acolytes. We should use the MPs to secure a meeting with George Osborne and the Prime Minister. I’ve no doubt that those affected by this will be ready to fight against this proposal as they did 10 years ago. If there’s going to be a battle then so be it.”

However, county-based campaigning organisation Protect Kent welcomed the move. Campaigns manager Andrew Ogden said:

"While our views on this consultation may appear to contradict our normal stance, we anticipate that this opportunity to share all of the facts and figures behind these proposals will expose them as the futile schemes they are.

Together with other campaigning and environmental groups, we will be presenting our case against these airports in response to the consultation. We will also be calling for a referendum to be held amongst all residents likely to be impacted by these proposals, both sides of the estuary."

London Mayor Boris Johnson wants to build a floating airport in the Thames Estuary - dubbed Boris Island. And plans were announced in November by renowned architect Lord Foster for a massive hub airport off the Hoo Peninsula, taking 150m passengers each year. The scheme involves building the hub airport - with twice the capacity of Heathrow - together with a huge barrage and a new rail network system: effectively an M25 for the railways, skirting London. If built, it would the 24-hour hub would have four runways, each 4km long. An integrated rail station beneath the passenger terminal would be the UK’s busiest - with 300,000 arrivals and departures every day.

kentonline 18th Jan 2012