THANET'S Labour group will oppose Manston airport's night-flying application, claiming the promise of jobs is merely an aspiration. All 20 Labour district councillors debated at a meeting last week the pros and cons of airport owner Infratil's proposal for regular flights between 11.30pm and 6am. Shadow cabinet member for regeneration Richard Nicholson said:
"Many issues of concern were raised but in essence it was felt the alluded-to benefits in terms of jobs were merely an aspiration rather than concrete. And it is clear in our minds these do not in any way compensate for the environmental and quality-of- life issues for the thousands who would be aversely affected."
The group believes the ten-year-old agreement between the airport and Thanet council – called a section 106 – is out of date. Labour leader Clive Hart said:
"While we are rejecting this application, we are equally adamant that both monitoring of operations and updating of all the section 106 is also vital. Labour is ready to sit down with others at TDC to seek the way forward to ensure that residents in Thanet can have much more confidence in the standards and application of a new 106 agreement."
By saul leese saul.leese@krnmedia.co.uk