Night flights do not mean jobs, says report

Night flights from Manston Airport will not create the 3,000 jobs promised by operators Infratil, an independent report says. The final document, compiled by specialists Parsons Brinckerhoff Ltd, was submitted to the council's Community Services Manager Madeline Homer on Thursday (19th Jan).

As exclusively revealed by the IoT Gazette on Friday 20th Jan, the report cast doubt on the economic argument for an average eight flights a night and claimed the environmental impact had been understated. The report said that if a night flying ban was to remain, the airport would only be excluded from 9 per cent of the scheduled freight market. It went on:

"Given that Manston Airport currently employs a proportionately large workforce for a small throughput, growth of passengers and freight in the short term may not necessarily lead to a significant employment and hence economic impact.

The report also said the analysis of the noise generated by airport had "resulted in an underestimation of the potential impacts on residents in the area".

The reported also recommended that Infratil's night flight proposal not be treated as a planning application meaning the decision on whether to adopt them could go before a full council.

thisiskent 23rd Jan 2012

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Full details and analysis on this website when the report is made public.

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Comments

[Mrs Gabriel]

Isn't time the wikipedia entry for so called Kent International Airport was updated, it appears to have no reference to the No Night Flights campaign and our own Wikipedia entry:-)

[Cas R]

I have never been as proud of Ramsgate and other residents of Thanet, as I was Saturday.
So many people came down to the Harbour and the High Street to support the NNF campaign, so many good things were said by so many.

Of course there is always some who have to be abnoxious and foul mouthed but fortunately there were only two out of hundreds. Thank you to everyone.

I'm not a religious person but what can I lose, I pray to God the Night flights are stopped before they really start, I really am afraid for the future of the whole of Thanet not just Ramsgate, if this fight fails.

If you haven't voted for NNF please consider doing so now and be proud you had a hand in saving the future of Thanet . We are tourist area with beautiful beaches, we want to stay that way.
Say NO to NF
I love the whole lot of the hard working people who are helping to save Thanet and proud to be their friend

[Igloo]

I agree. It was so encouraging to see people who can see real potential in their town, getting off their backsides to do something to protect it. If we can get this stupid proposal out of the way maybe we can focus some of that creative energy and drive on solving some of the town's other problems, such as the poor state of our amenities and leisure facilities. It would be nice to get David Foley on board or, better still, replace him with someone who is more in tune with public opinion.