An MP has branded the sale of a Kent airport as “opportunist land banking” and threatened to fight any development plans for the 800-acre site.
In October last year Stagecoach bus company co-founder, Ann Gloag, acquired the loss-making Manston Airport for one-pound from former Prestwick owners Infratil. Part of the deal included reassurances that the jobs of all 150 staff would be safe.
In May — and despite several major airlines using Manston including the Dutch carrier KLM — the airport, branded as “Kent’s International Airport”, was closed amid claims that it was losing £10,000 a day. Several offers were made to allow the site to continue as an airport but these were all rejected as being “unviable”.
It has now been confirmed that Gloag has sold a majority stake in the land to regeneration specialist Trevor Cartner and Chris Musgrave who are planning a £1bn development for the site. The 20-year scheme would include commercial, retail and residential projects and would, say the pair, generate at least 4,000 jobs.
The latest deal was immediately condemned by Thanet North MP, Sir Roger Gale, who said the acquisition sounded “remarkably like opportunist land-banking”. He also warned he would oppose any plans to create industrial premises and housing on the site.
“If Trevor Cartner wishes to pursue that route alongside airport-related industries then he will have my support,” pledged Sir Roger. “But if he wishes to tear up the airfield and smother the land in industrial premises that can and should be located elsewhere in Thanet — or to assist Ms Gloag in the realisation of her plan to create a significant housing development — then I shall oppose his plans in the interests of those that I represent.”
A report by Thanet District Council on future uses for the airport is expected to be published next month. One proposal is the compulsory purchase of Manston by the authority and its reopening alongside a logistics development.
Defending the decision to end Manston’s 99-year flying history, Gloag said her team had “worked tirelessly” to secure new business. “New passenger and freight opportunities failed to materialise and the scale of the losses meant that there was no credible prospect of the airport becoming profitable,” she added.
“Trevor and Chris are a credible team with a proven track record in creating high quality jobs through redevelopment opportunities,” stressed the Scottish millionairess. “Their business plan looks thorough, considered, and viable and will deliver thousands of local jobs. This development is an exciting opportunity for Manston and can transform the future of East Kent.”
Refusing to release any details of the redevelopment plans, Chris Musgrave said: “We will be looking to comprehensively redevelop the whole site to create a mixed-use community. This is in light of the fact that the airport has closed, the equipment has been sold and it will not reopen.”
During the First World War the Admiralty began using fields at Manston as an improvised air base. By 1917 it was a Royal Flying Corps station. In the Second World War, RAF Manston was heavily bombed during the Battle of Britain with Barnes Wallis later using the base to test his bouncing bomb on the coast at nearby Reculver prior to the Dambusters raid.
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