CCC's Regeneration Department

My favourite starfish

In the interests of spreading our love and help far and wide we (Mrs Earplugs and I) met up with some of the Canterbury people who will be dealing with Thanet District Council over the next few months while Infratil’s Masterplan is being goggled at.

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Brazier's assertions

Telling it like it isn't

Following the horrifying revelation that one of our elected representatives has been misrepresenting us, I have unleashed the merciless Mrs Earplugs. Blessed with eternal youth, bionic implants and the ability to kick-box without scuffing her Manolo Blahnik's, Mrs E now has the bit firmly between her razor-sharp teeth. We're not at DefCon 5 (unbridled bloodlust), but she's getting that restless, questing look in her eyes.

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YES WE CAN: make it work

Profitable. Sustainable. Sound commercial proposition. Good corporate citizen. These are just some of the good things that happen when you work with, rather than against, those around you. It's not rocket science. It's not even science. It's sense.

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YES WE CAN: monitor

Yes we can: the story so far… Infratil need Manston to be very busy; night flights are a bad thing; and the daytime flight paths must be designed to be as people-friendly as possible. So what happens next? Step aboard the time machine of your imagination, and gracefully swoop into the future…

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No case for night flights

Something of the night

They must be bats, wanting to fly in the dark. Not in the squeaky, blood-sucking sense. Just a bit nutso. Re-tune your ears and minds to human frequencies and I'll explain...

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More night time flights for Manston?

Controversial plans for more night time flights Kent International Airport at Manston are being considered by the local council. The proposals, which could become a reality as early as this May, would see dozens more flights into Kent International Airport every month. The first planes would take off or land at Manston from 6am and would operate until 11.30pm.

Airport owner Infratril is currently in talks with a major European airline that wants to use the site for long haul international cargo movements. The unnamed company hopes to fly 747 aircraft into airport up to 11 times a week. The plan would require a step change to the section 106 environmental agreement that restricts the airport's operations and is likely to be met with opposition.

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Council told to disclose legal advice over night flights

Thanet Council has been ordered to make public legal advice it received over controversial night flights from Manston Airport. The council caused controversy when it entered into an agreement in 2005 with the airport’s operators Planestation that permitted additional scheduled flights to take place beyond 11pm.

At the time, many residents in the area were dismayed, saying they faced noise disruption. There were claims that the change was one that should have required planning permission. Council chiefs had initially refused to disclose the advice of its lawyers, relating to a variation in the terms of what is known as a Section 106 agreement.

It rejected a request made under the Freedom of Information Act, saying the advice was legally privileged information and there was no public interest in releasing it. But now an information tribunal has officially ruled that the council was wrong.

A panel that considered a formal appeal said councillors had already referred to the legal advice during the course of a public council meeting when the issue of the impact of night flights had been raised. As a result, the full contents of the lawyers’ advice, which addressed the issue of whether the change in policy needed planning permission should be released, the panel concluded. In a statement, the council insisted it had not deliberately sought to suppress the information. The statement said:

“Thanet District Council is committed to providing as much information as possible to the public. However, the council took legal advice in this case and we were advised not to release any information which would jeopardise the future of a passenger service at Kent International Airport.”

kentonline 2nd Aug 2006

Council promises 'hard negotiations' with airport

A three month consultation has thrown up a range of concerns from residents in Thanet, Sturry and Herne Bay, that will be discussed with Manston airport owners, PlaneStation. Inappropriate penalties, inadequate noise monitoring, off-route aircraft, and concern that cargo flights may increase, were among the worries voiced. Council leader Cllr Sandy Ezekiel pledged that the local authority would "go into hard negotiations" with the airport owners over a revised Section 106 environmental agreement that will update the original five-year-old voluntary agreement that he described as "rather woolly".

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Airport broke night flight rules

Manston airport has been fined £52,000 by Thanet Council for operating night flights that break an environmental agreement. The Section 106 clause specifies that no flights can take off from the airport between 11pm and 07am, but it does allow for a maximum of 12 humanitarian, mercy or emergency flights by relief organisations during any calendar year between those times.

The level of fines on night flights between January and August 2003 from the airport had already assessed. Councillors considered 17 subsequent night flights between September and December last year. Information from the airport operators stated that all 17 flights were humanitarian and that the cargo carried was replacement Iraqi currency, designed to help the country's reconstruction and recovery programme.

Councillors decided that this was not what they considered to be ‘humanitarian’ flights and that payment due under the 106 agreement should be enforced. Cllr Sandy Ezekiel, council leader, said:

“This council is firmly committed to the environmental agreement because it was put in place to help protect local residents. Councillors are determined to enforce the agreement where we believe that it has been breached. Night flights disturb sleeping patterns and cause annoyance. While the council is committed to the development of Manston as an airport, it does not want to see this take place to the detriment of the local environment or local residents."

kentonline 23rd Feb 2004