Regular readers will recall that the last time KLM showed any interest in Manston, they were being lured by the promise of £600,000 - money which Manston and KCC were trying to prise out of the Government's Regional Growth Fund. The Government said "No", and KLM faded into the background. I do hope this new service isn't being subsidised from the public purse (national, county or district).
Cllr Gideon concluded that the consensus was that this is the wrong time to review the S106 agreement, and that it should be revisited as and when the airport sale goes through, or a planning application is received. It would be marvellous if the AWP adopted the motto used by hundreds of thousands of scouts and guides across Britain - "Be Prepared".
AWP, Alasdair Bruce, Bob Grove, Jo Gideon, John Worrow, Julie Marson, Kim Gibson, Mike Harrison, S106 Manston, Night flights, TDC 
Delusion has finally been swept away by the onslaught of reality and Infratil are throwing in the towel. This has been a long time coming, and Nostrildamus predicted it in November 2010.
Manston Airport has been put up for sale. Bosses at Kent International Airport told staff at 10.30am yesterday (Friday) morning. The shock decision was made by owners Infratil. The New Zealand-based company also plans to sell its airport at Prestwick near Glasgow.
Charles Buchanan, Complaints, Planning, S106, Sale Infratil, Manston, Night flights, TDC 
Manston is now a political football, and will be kicked around until Infratil take their ball home.
Cllr Bayford, who was Leader of the Council when both of Manston's night flying proposals were received, is now indulging in the time-honoured political tradition of finger-pointing, name-calling and blame-shifting.
Bob Bayford, Clive Hart, Consultation, Mike Harrison, Parsons Brinckerhoff, S106 Manston, Night flights, TDC 
Manston is nowhere near as simple in planning terms as other airports.
The absence of an overall planning consent and environmental impact assessment mean that there are unique circumstances which significantly change the legal landscape. Manston cannot apply for planning permission for night-flights on their own. They have to apply for planning permission for the whole airport.
Manston, Night flights, TDC
Updated on Jan 30, 2012 at 23:42 by
HBM
Politics is the worst thing that ever happened to democracy, and I only realised this since getting involved in local community campaigns like this one.
The downsides of night flights - noise and other pollution, environmental destruction, reduced quality of life, worse health, more stress, harder-to-teach kids, etc. etc. - are all straightforward facts, and as such are strictly non-political.
The advertised upside of night flights - that they will allow the airport to achieve its master plan and the forecast jobs - is more a matter of belief, trust or interpretation, and as such is likely to coloured by the political colour of your mind/heart.
It's disheartening when political spin and point-scoring produce more heat than light, warming the hearts of political supporters without showing a way forward. (This criticism is emphatically not levelled at Laura alone, not by any means - they're all at it, most of the time, usually when there are better things to be doing.)
Bob Bayford, Consultation, Laura Sandys MP, Planning, S106 Manston, Night flights, TDC 
Thanet District Council have created cock-up out of chaos - a half-arsed consultation, then playing put the genie back in the bottle. It would have been so much simpler just to bat Manston's proposals straight back to them, just as the previous administration did, and for exactly the same reasons.
Originally, the consultation was to last 90 days, be carried out by MORI (for example), and cost £50-£80k. Councillors and members alike have been getting twitchy about the cost, and so they've opted to do it in-house, i.e. on the cheap. There's no suggestion that this will produce a better consultation.
Manston have dragged their feet for years over this, to the extent that even the Council has been appeared quite nimble in comparison. Nonetheless, Clive Hart has tried to allay our impatience by acting swiftly. Personally, for an exercise of this importance, I would rather he did it right than did it soon.
Having just realised that the S106 agreement means that Manston can proceed with whatever night flight policy they like, TDC have decided to wait and see what effect the night flights will have. Erm, quite apart from what their native common sense should be telling them, TDC have now commissioned two independent reports, both of which conclude that the costs of night flights outweigh the benefits.
They are also waiting to see if night flights would result in an "intensification or change of operation" at the airport. Hmmm... tricky one. Currently: 16 hours a day, with scheduled night flights forbidden. Proposed: 24 hours a day, with no limit on night flights. You know what - I think there will be a difference.
Clive Hart, Consultation, S106 Manston, Night flights, TDC 
As mentioned before, TDC wasted their (our) money in asking Parsons Brinckerhoff’s (PB's) opinion on planning, given that PB conclude “Dunno, ask a pro”. However, they do describe the shambolic background to Manton’s current planning status, and mention in passing some interesting omissions on TDC’s part.
Parsons Brinckerhoff, Planning, S106 Manston, Night flights, TDC A reader writes:
Have recently become more involved in NNF's campaign. Much to digest and eventually understand. Have emailed Manston, MP/councillors about recent flights - as per your website advice.
What I don't quite understand at the moment is - when flights do come over during the restricted hours - who/which organisation has responsibility to decide if they are operating outside of the current agreement/legislation and then who/what organisation then places fines etc onto Infratil?
Thank you for your time.
SM
Hmmm... good questions, which highlight the shortcomings of the current S106 agreement between the Council and the airport.
Clive Hart, Quota, S106, Schedule Infratil, Manston, Night flights, TDC 
"May you live in interesting times" ran the old Chinese curse, and it appears that Thanet may be about to overdose on political "interest".
The local election in May left Thanet with a more-or-less hung council: 27 Conservative, 26 Labour and 3 Independents. In exchange for chairmanship of their preferred committees, the Indies backed Cllr Bayford's bid for leadership - oh well, at least it was naked self-interest, rather than anything underhand...
Birchington, Bob Bayford, Clive Hart, John Worrow, Michael Child, S106 Manston, Night flights, TDC 
The new night flights proposal from Manston contains just two rules that matter: how many planes, and how noisy. What will happen when Manston breaks the rules?
Absolutely nothing.
Manston has removed all the penalty clauses from their proposal.
Manston, Night flights, TDC 
At first I thought that might be a surprising, or even shocking, headline. But on reflection, I'm sorry to say it isn't. At all.
TDC have never really chosen to exercise any control; Manston does pretty much whatever it likes; and us poor sods who live under the flight path (especially those who have used Manston's pitiful complaints system) are all too well aware that Manston operates what is technically termed "uncontrolled airspace".
All this relates to the now infamous 5th October "Wakey Wakey Ramsgate" incident. As you will see from their confession, Manston ignored the S106 agreement and flew planes in and out through the night.
If they get their way with their next night flights application, we'll be getting this kind of misery every night. Click HERE to see who to write to, and keep writing to them until the penny drops.
Madeline Homer, Richard Nicholson, S106 Manston, Night flights, TDC 
More needs to be done to monitor noise created by airplanes at Manston airport, Thanet council officers have admitted after a grilling by councillors.
During the meeting of the Airport Working Party last Wednesday, members quizzed council officials on what had been done to make sure Manston airport operator Infratil sticks to the conditions of its planning agreement, a Section 106, with the council. Labour councillor David Green said he did not think the monitoring was sufficiently independent or transparent, adding:
AWP, Charles Buchanan, David Green, Madeline Homer, Noise, Penny Button, S106 Well, regular scheduled night flights by the very noisiest freighters would get penalised, but...
Manston Are you kidding?
Manston Of course not.
Manston No problem!
Manston It's up to you, really.
Manston Here's a handy way of illustrating how much flexibility Manston Airport has under the current S106 agreement with Thanet District Council. Let us suppose that someone, somewhere, is interested in buying Manston. Clearly, this is hypothetical.
Ruritanian-based airport operator Infidel has thrown caution to the wind and is sniffing around Thanet, looking for an airport to buy.
Instead of, ahem, doing any proper research to find out if Manston is financially viable, they've sent us a few questions about what they would be allowed to do. Read on...
Of course you can, as long as you didn't schedule it in advance. We've got an amazingly tolerant noise regime here at Manston. Even a 747-400 can be landed here at any time of night without paying a penny in fines to the community fund.
Manston On Tuesday (30th August) I proposed, and Peter Campbell seconded, that a report, from the Council’s Airport Working Party, on the monitoring of activities at Manston Airport including Night Flights policy be adopted by the Thanet District Council (TDC) Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and forwarded to Cabinet. The committee voted 8 to 7 with all Labour Councillors and Cllr King in favour.
“1(a) The Council adopts a policy of not allowing scheduled, pre-planned or otherwise timetabled flights between the hours of 23:00 and 07:00
David Green, Peter Campbell, S106, Tom King Manston, Night flights, TDC 
