Trevor wants a Parkway

Kent Online's business editor Trevor Sturgess argues for a Parkway station and high speed rail links, but I think he's missed a few relevant points [my comments are bracketed in italics].

---

Flybe’s decision to pull out of Manston is another blow to the airport, especially disappointing at the turn of the year. However attractive we in Kent think Manston is, it seems that not enough people agree.

Click to read more ...

Why Steer Davies Gleave?

This is from the internal KCC document that describes how the contract (to produce the supporting report for the £10m RGF bid) was awarded.

---

Outline of Project

Although KCC has previously carried out some outline feasibility work for the proposed Thanet Parkway station (most recently in July 2009), this requires significant updating and development; including more comprehensive passenger demand forecasting and a full feasibility design of the station and car park, if a robust and credible RGF bid is to be prepared. The Government is particularly interested in the job creation potential (both direct and indirect) of proposed schemes, which has not previously been a requirement of traditional transport appraisals. For these reasons, and in light of the challenging timescale for the submission of a first-round RGF bid, it was agreed with the Director of Integrated Strategy and Planning that KCC should invite three technical consultants to tender for this work.

Reasons for appointing this particular Consultant:

Click to read more ...

Trickle of funding for Manston Parkway

0.13% of a station

On reflection, I think "trickle" may be over-stating it a bit - this is more of a slight dampening.

There is a document called Growth without Gridlock, which is KCC's grandiose plan for turning the Garden of England into a 24 hour blur of traffic. It includes:

• plans for a Third Thames Crossing (that the local councils at either end of the proposed crossing don't want),
• upgrades to the M2 and M20 (to squeeze more lorries through Dover),
• enhancements to Operation Stack (to provide parking for those lorries),
• upgrades to the high speed rail link to Ramsgate (to speed up the trains),
• and a new Manston Parkway station (to slow them down again).

All in all, as fine a display of joined-up thinking as we're likely to see from KCC any time soon, and a bargain at £1.77 billion. Yes, that's £1,770,000,000. KCC have been roaming the streets with their hands outstretched, seeking funds from every quarter. The latest mark to be suckered into coughing up is the Local Sustainable Transport Fund

Click to read more ...

Council reveals unsuccessful bid to develop Manston services

It's like pulling teeth

Kent County Council has been forced to reveal details of its unsuccessful £10.8 million bid for Government money to develop services for Manston airport.  Campaigners, No Night Flights, challenged KCC's refusal to release details of the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) application.

Click to read more ...

A closer look at that bid

The once-secret KCC funding bid

Bureaucracy being what it is, KCC and Infratil were obliged to spell out in detail the brazen cheek of their cash plea. Do please remember that Infratil is a New Zealand-based investment company, and that whatever profits it can (finally) squeeze out of this lemon of an airport will be going straight back to their antipodean investors, still smarting from years of multi-million pound losses.

Click to read more ...

KCC's empty begging bowl

In the middle of last year, the Government (in the form of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills - BIS) launched the Regional Growth Fund (RGF). The RGF aims to "support projects and programmes that lever private sector investment creating economic growth and sustainable employment. It aims particularly to help those areas and communities currently dependent on the public sector to make the transition to sustainable private sector-led growth and prosperity".

Across the length and breadth of our proud nation, there was a cacophony of snorts and oinks as snouts were pressed to the trough, greedy for their share of the £1.4 billion on offer. KCC was there, looking for a handout to support their crackpot proposal for a Parkway station at Manston, and some free money for the airport. Here's why they failed:

Click to read more ...

Airport campaigner's anger over 'secret' bid

Town planners refuse to release details of rail proposal

Campaigners against Manston night flights were left fuming this week after county council officials refused to release details of their bid for a new train station at the airport.

Click to read more ...

Manston boss and KCC make bid to government for east Kent regeneration cash

The second RGF funding bid

Manston airport's chief executive has called on the Government to recognise east Kent's economic problems when allocating the next round of Regional Growth Fund cash. Charles Buchanan is working with Kent County Council to submit an improved bid after a previous application for £10 million was rejected by the team in charge of distributing the £1.4 billion pot.

The Manston bid was for a parkway railway station serving the airport, an extension of the high-speed rail network between Ramsgate and Ashford, and cash to fund a daily air service to an undisclosed "European hub" airport. But the application was dealt a further blow last week when Lord Michael Heseltine - chairman of the RGF inependent advisory panel - hinted at a roadshow in Margate that Kent bids were at a disadvantage because the county's residents can travel short distances to London for work.

Click to read more ...

Advisory group recommend no night flights at airport

"No flights to be scheduled between 11pm and 7am at Manston" was the recommendation to the council at a meeting of the Airport Working Party this week.  The suggestion was one of ten agreed during the group's final meeting before yesterday's elections.  The advisory group also recommended that:

• There is a period of one hour at either end of the flying day to allow for late and early arriving flights only
• A penalty be applied to any flights arriving during said one hour periods
• No take offs be allowed between 11pm and 7am
• A schedule of exceptions be prepared to include 'mercy flights' aid flights, medical emergencies, aviation emergencies and coastguard movements
• A new Section 106 Agreement be negotiated within 12 months
• Infratil or any future airport operator be asked to contribute to the cost of a council airport officer and that the requirement is included in a new section 106 Agreement
• The AWP considers undertaking an investigation into the relationship between a possible Parkway Station and the Airport and the need for it
• The council request that airport operators Infratil reviews the operation of the Manston Airport Consultatory Committee
• The council request a quarterly report from Infratil on how they perform with regards the 106 agreement

The recommendation will go before a newly formed overview and scrutiny panel on May 19 following the elections which will in turn make its recommendations to the new cabinet.

thisiskent 6th May 2011

The Parkway Station fiasco develops

KCC are asking for £10m as a starter for the hundreds (?) of millions the station will eventually cost - as if they can't think of anything better to with that kind of money. Mind you, if the China Gateway saga is anything to go by, I would be completely unsurprised to find that some canny TDC councillors have had the foresight to buy some land (that would then need to be compulsorily purchased) slap-bang where the station is proposed. Stay tuned.

Click to read more ...

New station 'would help airport lift off'

A proposed Thanet Parkway station would give a fantastic boost to Manston airport but the terminal would still grow without it, its boss has said. Charles Buchanan, chief executive of Kent International Airport, said rail links between Ramsgate and London were already much better, with high-speed journey times down to 75 minutes. A Parkway station close to the airport would cut this to around 64 minutes, although he would like to see it fall tobelow 60 minutes. But he insisted that the terminal would grow with or without the station.

Click to read more ...

How not to chair a meeting

As meetings go, it was messy. The high point was probably the brief presentations by the kids from the Kent Youth Council - keen on democracy, and happy to roll their sleeves up and get stuck in. Excellent stuff. They easily outshone the Thanet Local Board. Until recently, I hadn't known the TLB existed, and I had never seen Cllr Hayton. Happy days.

Click to read more ...

Manston's future: public meeting

Here's one not to miss: a meeting of the Thanet Local Board entitled "Bold Steps for Thanet: regeneration, good transport links and Manston". This will feature Paul Carter (KCC leader) and Charles Buchanan (KIA boss) amongst others, singing the praises of Manston and the (yet to happen) Thanet Parkway station. It's a public meeting, with a question and answer session at the end.

Click to read more ...

Manston Parkway Station

The proposed station is intended to link Kent International Airport (Manston) to the Southeastern High Speed rail service. Somehow. On the left is Southeastern Network's map of their routes (click it to big it).

The pale grey track that loops out from the existing Eutrostar route between Ebbsfleet and Ashford is the new high-speed rail link, taking in the Medway towns, the north Kent coast, Thanet and Canterbury. We are being promised shorter journey times from December 2009.

Click to read more ...

Minster Parkway train station en route?

Clipping: thisiskent

PROPOSALS to turn Minster railway station into a commuter hub offering big parking capacity and links to Manston are in plans about to be put before county- council leaders. The authority is faced with the task of co-ordinating efforts to make improvements to take advantage of the introduction of high-speed services to the county in December.

Click to read more ...

City leader names BA as mystery firm

John Gilbey: leak

Clipping: thisiskent

A TOP Kent politician is the latest person to name British Airways as the firm set to move into Manston. Thanet council called an emergency meeting last month to change regulations of the airport's night flights in the belief that a new freight operator was about to relocate there. Despite widespread speculation that British Airways World Cargo was the firm set to move in, no formal announcement has since been made.

Click to read more ...

Six million passengers for Kent airport

An international travel hub could be created at Kent International Airport at Manston. The 25-year vision from KIA bosses at the former Battle of Britain airfield includes a complex to rival Luton and Stanstead, with passenger intake increasing from 16,000 a year at today’s figures to six million in 2033.

It foresees a second passenger terminal, an extension to the A299 Thanet Way - providing a direct route into the airport for freight and passenger traffic, and a railway station to serve the airport, which aims to take passengers from London St Pancras to Manston in 80 minutes. Two spots have been earmarked for the parkway station - at Cliffsend and the Lord of the Manor roundabout, which is the favoured spot.

Click to read more ...