Agenda for Public KIACC meeting

KENT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE

MEETING IN PUBLIC - in the Airport Departure Lounge

Friday 30^th November 2012 6.30pm

AGENDA

1. Chairman's welcome & opening
2. Minutes of last meeting
3. Matters Arising
4. Short introduction to the public part of the Meeting by P Twyman, Chair of KIACC
5. Short presentations from Community Fund recipients
6. Report from the Airport Management - a presentation on the airport and its future (Charles Buchanan, CEO Manston Airport)
7. Thanet District Council – an update on the Council's position on the airport and its development; the work of the Airport Working Party; and views on the future (Cllr Hart, Leader of the Council has been invited to speak)
8. Questions from the public and discussion

Hurrah! A Public Meeting at Manston!

Diary Date: Friday 30th November 2012 at 6.30pm. As it says on the invitation:

Members of the public are invited to attend this meeting and will have the opportunity to ask questions after the business of the Committee has been dealt with. Hear from Thanet Council and the CEO of the Airport.  Hear about the work of KIACC.  Make your views known.

Click to read more ...

Charles Buchanan's brave face

Every now and then Charles Buchanan reports to KIACC (the airport's consultative committee).

These reports are usually a rattling good read, if only to pick out the bits where a favourable gloss is put on the less than lovely truth.

The airport sale seems to be in the doldrums. The Olympics were a wash-out, although some planes parked at Manston. Posh people's planes.

Click to read more ...

Support from CPRE Protect Kent

Thanet District Committee

Matters have not been all quiet on the eastern front. A number of issues have surfaced — or re-surfaced — within the District. The most significant is the proposal for night-flights from Kent International Airport, Manston.

This is a subject which has featured for some time as a dark storm cloud over Thanet, ominous and threatening but never quite ready to release its anger. It now appears that the storm is about to break.

Click to read more ...

Labour denies night flight U-turn

For myself, I think the idea of a "whipped" vote (when members are formally ordered to toe the party line) is an affront to democracy. Each councillor's first duty is to the residents of their ward, and if that conflicts with party policy, then the residents' interests should win every time.

That said, there is no practical way of telling whether a vote has been informally whipped, with the usual mix of sticks and carrots. And there's always (thankfully) some bloody-minded/ruggedly independent individuals who simply won't do what they're told.

Finally, I do wish politicians wouldn't say things like "People will have to trust us" - it's guaranteed to raise both chuckles and hackles.

Click to read more ...

Clown makes a serious point

An irate clown was in no mood for jokes when he arrived at Manston airport on Friday to highlight the "circus" over night-time flying. Sporting a wig, tartan suit and painted clown face, protester Malcolm Kirkaldie attended a meeting of the Kent International Airport Consultative Committee.

Mr Kirkaldie, a former committee member before he resigned in disgust this year, said Thanet council's failure to properly monitor night flights had made a mockery of the 106 agreement with New Zealand-based operators Infratil. He said:

"Given the recent events at the Airport Working Party and the admission of certain failures in the 106 agreement and monitoring, it has turned into a bit of a circus – so I thought how appropriate to dress up as a clown."

Click to read more ...

That KIACC meeting, in a nutshell

For those of you who had better things to do on Friday evening, you can find out what you missed here:

Ramsgate Rat merrily blogging away for the last year or so on all things Ramsgatey and ratty, has produced a very readable write-up of the evenings jollities, and local newshound Andrew Woodman who was scampering about with a digital doo-dah and has captured the best moments on video, and put them on video-sharing website Bambuser.

One of the many important points that arose, that I would like you all to think about, was the question of representation on the KIACC committee. There's plenty of councillors (I mean LOTS of councillors), and there's the airport. Not much in the way of people (i.e. residents) or independent experts. This has to change.

For people/residents, I think a representative from NoNightFlights would provide some much-needed balance to the blanket pro-airport stance of some councillors.

For independence and expertise, I think the obvious option is CPRE Protect Kent. They know their onions, and they're not anti-airport (so no objection from Manston), but they are anti-night flight (hurrah).

The constitution of the KIACC committee is under review, so now is the time for all good men and women to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboards) and contact KIACC at this address:

secretary.manstonkiacc@talktalk.net

to nominate some new faces on the committee. If you don't make any suggestions, we'll be stuck forever with what we had on Friday... The decision is yours!

KIACC 21st October

KENT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE
MEETING IN PUBLIC
Friday 21st October 2011, 7pm
Airport Departure Lounge, Manston Airport

AGENDA

1. Chairman's welcome & opening
2. Minutes of last meeting
3. Matters Arising
4. Short presentations from Community Fund recipients
5. Report from the Airport Management (Charles Buchanan, CEO Manston Airport)
6. The Leader of Thanet District Council, Cllr Bayford has been invited to address the meeting at this point
7. Opportunity for comments from the Public

[click the poster below to download a copy]

Send your questions to:

secretary.manstonkiacc@talktalk.net

KIACC meeting

There will be a "meeting in public" of KIACC (the airport consultative committee) on Friday 21st October. The time has yet to be confirmed, but in will be in the evening, after they've had their "meeting in private", probably starting some time between 6pm and 8pm.

Full details will be posted here as soon as they're made public.

We are expecting Charles Buchanan, Cllr Bob Bayford, Madeline Homer, and a host of other local celebrities!

It is now traditional to wear a red item of clothing if you are against night flights.

MAG quits KIACC as noise worries are 'ignored'

"The consultative committee has been treated with contempt and, in consequence, has failed to exert any influence over the legitimate environmental concerns of local residents. We have no time to waste on pointless meetings, and we no longer want our membership of the committee to constrain us in countering the pro-night-flight propaganda campaign which is being conducted through the local media."

Click to read more ...

TDC and Infratil: "no contact"

Well, well. The Chairman of KIACC (the consultative group for Kent International Airport) has forwarded a number of very good questions from the general public to Richard Samuel at TDC. The gist of it, unsurprisingly, is: what on earth is going on? Have a look at the exchange and see how many of KIACC's questions TDC answered...

Click to read more ...

Residents rally on night flights at public meeting in Chatham House School

Clipping: thisiskent

RESIDENTS against plans for regular night flights at Manston airport made their anger felt at the first public meeting on the issue. The hall at Chatham House School was packed for the meeting called by Ramsgate Town Council on Monday night. It gave people the chance to air their views on an application by the owners of Manston airport, Infratil, to allow scheduled flights at night.

Click to read more ...

Calling All Whistleblowers

If TDC decide to give Infratil the night flights they've asked for, it'll have a significant impact on the everyday lives of all of us under the flight path. The elected representatives taking that decision should be as transparent as possible about the factors they are taking into account.

Some of you have already offered us interesting and valuable insider insights into what's really going on - keep 'em coming! If you think you know something about Infratil's or TDC's plans that the wider public should know, tell us at NoNightFlights@gmail.com. We respect our sources' request to keep names confidential.

Alternatively, share what you know with the statutory consultative body responsible for issues between the airport and the community, KIACC.

Warning to TDC and Infratil over Manston

Thanet District Council and Infratil, the owners of Manston Airport, have been warned they could end up in the High Court if the night-flights consultation process is botched. The warning has come from Paul Twyman, the chairman of airport watchdog the Kent International Airport Consultative Committee (KIACC).

Click to read more ...

Kent International Airport boss Charles Buchanan to release night-flight plans

Clipping: thisiskent

DETAILS of how many night flights bosses at Manston airport want will be available in two weeks. New airport boss Charles Buchanan said on Friday he would be ready to release the long-awaited figures shortly. He was speaking to the Kent International Airport Consultative Committee, which was holding its meeting in public.

Click to read more ...

KIACC - public meeting

They rarely meet in public, so make the most of this opportunity. There's some meaty stuff on the agenda - how do you feel about night flights over Herne Bay? This may be your only chance to tell Charles Buchanan and Brian White in person. KENT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE MEETING: Friday 17th September 2010

Click to read more ...

Hitch with noise monitor

Clipping: thisiskent

Problems with a machine used to monitor the noise created by Manston Airport has been blamed on a technical hitch. In July, the Isle of Thanet Gazette reported how members of the Kent International Airport Consultative Committee had been angry to find that a mobile noise monitoring system run by Thanet council had not been working for some months.

Click to read more ...

Who knows how noisy

A mobile noise monitor designed to record the volume of flights from Manston airport is still out of action. The machine, which can be taken to different locations across Thanet, is the only one that can be moved from set locations to monitor the level of disturbance made by planes. However, it is lying unused because there are problems with data collection and taking the information from it. Thanet council could not say, or declined to say, exactly how long it had been out of use. A spokeswoman would only say it had not been in use “since early this year”.

Click to read more ...

Hypocrisy

Last week's pithy missive from Mrs. Earplugs to Paul Carter FC via his blog on the KCC website.  No reply yet. I expect he's busy.

You say you understand that Boris doesn't want a third runway at Heathrow and that you don't want an airport in the estuary. And then you say you want more use to be made of Manston. Of course, you live nowhere near it, so you will not be experiencing what we on the flight path will experience.

Also, you have demonstrated by your avoidance of the KIACC meetings how little attention you propose to pay to the views of those most affected by your dreams of seeing more flights at Manston. May I borrow the phrase you used of the Audit Commission and categorise this as "stunning hypocrisy" on your part?

Anger as Kent leader stays away from Manston meeting

Paul Carter

Clipping: thisiskent

Paul Carter will be reported to KCC's standards committee after he pulled out of a meeting at Manston airport. The leader of Kent County Council Paul Carter could be reported to the authority’s watchdog on standards after failing to show at a meeting about Manston airport. Cllr Carter was due to attend Friday’s meeting of the Kent International Airport’s Consultative Committee but pulled out at the last minute and did not send a replacement.

Click to read more ...