Cllr David Green, TDC Cabinet Member for Economic Development, said...

Just to set the record straight, neither Thanet District Council or the ruling Labour Group are in favour of a CPO of Manston Airport.

It has been suggested to us by a local MP, and therefore we feel obliged to examine it as a possibility. Until the airport closed, our position was one of support for the airport as a local employer but we were against environmentally damaging night flights. We note that of the three reasons given for closure - loss of BA freight contract, loss of Ryan Air contract and the Government review of south east airports - none of them involved night flights. We suggested extension of the enterprise zone to cover the airport as something Government could do to help stimulate activity. The airport is now closed, and in my opinion unlikely to open again. As the local planning authority we await notification of the owner's plans.

We have already received a suggestion for housing on the northern grass next to the airport. We received this long before talk of closure. This application will be judged along with many other suggestions for potential housing sites and may or may not form part of the next stage of the Local Plan Preferred Options draft that we will be consulting on shortly. That draft will suggest how best to meet our calculation that we will require sites for 11,500 houses over the next 20 years, only half of which can be found within the existing urban boundary.

That Rejected Airport Bid In Full

Smokin' Future For Manston?

The results of my big poll on the future of Manston are in! And the winner is.... well, it's a dead heat actually.

Asked what you thought RAF London Kent Manston Etc Airport should become now that its days as a runway are rapidly coming to a close, 22% of you went for 'leisure', while another 22% of you opted for a '700 acre cannabis farm'. Hmm. I suppose the two aren't incompatible. And when you add in the 15% who wanted the airport to be returned to agriculture, I think we have a pretty darn good consensus!

That should please Councillor Ian Driver, our appropriately Green local representative who is campaigning for a cannabis caff to open up on Kent's Ramsgate Peninsula. I mean, cripes! With 700 acres of the stuff on his doorstep, he could open up a cannabis superstore!! Here are the results in full:

Question: What future for Manston?

700 acre cannabis farm: 22% (32 votes)
Leisure: 22% (32 votes)
Renewable energy: 16% (23 votes)
Agriculture: 15% (22 votes)
Housing: 12% (17 votes)
Industry: 10% (14 votes)

Personally I would have voted for renewable energy, which came in third. But then, what do I know? Well, what I do know is that it will almost certainly become a mammoth housing estate, which came in second to last.

Meanwhile airport champion Sir Roger Guff has been meeting with airport owner Annie Get Your Gloags today in a bid to save the place. Initial reports are that Sir Rodge has said there is no offer on the table. Believe me, Rodge, there's not only no offer, there's no table, no chairs, not even a room to put them in.

Still, one cloud hanging over the future of the airport as a non-airport, which may in the end prove to be the ace up Roger's hole, is the very well-founded rumour amongst the fly boys that there are unexploded pipe bombs on the site, left over from the war. But then again, if they've been landing planes on them for decades, I can't see it's much of an argument really. Anyone for a housing boom?!?! (Geddit??!!!!!??!?!?!)

Unhappy Landings

In Memoriam 
RAF London Kent Manston
Margate Tracey Emin
Chas 'n' Dave Maggie Thatcher
Schipol Skyport Poundland
International Airport

So farewell
Then, RAF London
Kent Manston
Margate Tracey Emin
Chas 'n' Dave
Maggie Thatcher
Schipol Skyport
Poundland
International Airport.

You had the
Longest runway
In Britain
According to
Roger Gale MP.

And planes flew
'Straight out to sea'
According to
Paul Carter
Leader of
Kent County Council.

None of which
Was true.

You were supposed
To create
'10,000 jobs'.
That wasn't true either.

Now you have gone
To that great
Airport in the sky.

E. C. Richard (29)

Click here to read more about airport consortium pulling out on KM website.

BETRAYED

Yep - that's what the headline in today's Isle of Thanet Gazunder screams, complete with photo of multi-millionaire Manston owner Ann Gloag, who bought the place for a pound last November.

Inside there's lots of Facebook comment from deep thinking local builders, bakers and taxi drivers about how bad the closure of the airport will be for our septic isle. Well, if you want to fly to Thailand to get pissed and turn into a lobster, and aren't prepared to schlep the hour or so to a proper airport, I guess it is a bit of a shame.

But, y'know, I think they've got the wrong person. It's not Ann Gloag who has betrayed us poor, beknighted Thanetians. All she's done is make a tough business decision.

Surely it's the endless procession of local councillors, MPs, hacks and other duffers who have all lined up over the years to pay lip service to the idea of a thriving, international airport on their doorstep, without even stopping to think or find out whether it was ever going to be a goer, who have betrayed us?

Sad to say, it was never going to be a goer. So isn't it about time to finally stop attempting to breath life into this dead dog? It's been dead for 15 years now. It's practically rotted away.

Ramsgate Prices Soar As Airport Plummets

By Isle of Thanet Gazunder Property Editor Sammy Detached

House prices in Ramsgate are surging following the news that Manston Airport is to close.

Estate agents throughout the town have reported a 'tidal wave' of interest in Ramsgate's Georgian and Victorian properties now that the blight of all-night flights, cargo planes carrying rotten bananas and endless training loops by knackered old jumbos has been lifted.

One agent, who didn't want to be named, said: 'Whilst it's obviously bad news for the half a dozen people who worked at Manston, there is an upside. We're getting property inquiries from as far away as Scotland from buyers who have heard the news and are now actively seeking to relocate in our fantastic seaside town.'

One local property expert told the Gazunder that he now expects well-presented homes to double or even triple in value over the next five years. 'It's going to be a new gold rush,' he said, adding: 'I've always maintained that Ramsgate would take off once the take-offs stopped taking off, if you see what I mean.'

Meanwhile redundant airport workers are being urged to 'get on their bikes' and look for work at one of the twelve other airports in the south east. Said one recruitment specialist: 'If you want to work at an airport, stop moaning and move to where there is one.'

That's enough property news - Ed.

Mannston News

Well, there I was, all ready to bring you another of my regular round-ups of news nibbles concerning Ann Gloag, the millionaire owner of RAF London Kent Manston Margate Tracey Emin Chas 'n' Dave Maggie Thatcher Schipol Skyport Poundland International Airport...

But now we hear the airport is CLOSING! The curse of ECR strikes again!!!!!

To be honest, from what I've monitored of Ms Gloag over the past few months, she seems much more interested in property development than running an airport. Perhaps the picture above will give her an idea of how to move forward. Although, if you ask me, a 4,000 home sink estate is more likely to be on the cards!

Click here to read about Manston closure.
Click here to read my previous jottings about RAFLKMMTEC'N'DMTSSPI Airport.

Manston Owner Denied Planning Permission

Cripes! RAF Kent Manston Margate Tracey Emin Chas 'n' Dave Maggie Thatcher Schipol Skyport Poundland International Airport's new owner Ann Gloag has lost a planning battle to build a row of new homes!

Hmmm. Well. It's a bit of a slow news week. So the story, which I spotted in The Scotsman, relates to a patch quite a few miles north of our septic isle. Somewhere called Kinfauns, in fact.

According to the paper, the 71 year old former nurse, one of Scotland's wealthiest women, wanted to build a row of three bedroomed houses on a green belt site which objectors said breached 'just about every planning policy for the location'.

Stagecoach tycoon Ann, who shares in an estimated £650m fortune with her brother Sir Brian Souter, bought RAFMMTECNDMTSSPI Airport in November for £1. It's not the first time she's been criticised for blight planning. In 2012 she obtained planning permission for another development which Forestry Commission Scotland warned would ruin an area of ancient woodland, and which locals said would cause property prices to plummet.

Talking of blights, what on earth, or, indeed, in air, was that unmarked plane doing the rounds over Ramsgate this morning? My Plane Finder app had it down as HFI 651K, but unusually, when I popped that into Google, instead of the usual slew of anorak data, all I got was the one hit - for a number plate vendor.

It's ironic, as Annie G won a landmark case in Scotland in 2007 to keep ramblers out of the ten acres of grounds surrounding her castle. She seems to have no problem sending planes over my cliff top mansion, though!

Ah, but maybe, as one of my Twatter followers suggested, it's covert practice for a bombing run over the Pleasurama Eyesore at the end of next month!

Update: Yikes! The day after I wrote this, Ann Gloag cancelled this year's Manston Air Show!

Airport Gets New Name (Again)

Holy Gloags! Whiffling through my copy of Global Airport Cities, I spied an article on the new owner of RAF London Kent Manston Margate Tracey Emin Chas 'n' Dave Maggie Thatcher Schipol International Airport!

According to the piece, headlined 'Big Plans For Loss-Making Manston Airport', Scotland's second wealthiest woman hopes to turn her recently acquired acreage of Kentish concrete into 'an environment where new partners are attracted to do business'. Which to my uninitiated ear (that's the left one) sounds like an invitation for everyone to chuck the keys to their knackered old jumbos into a bowl and take pot luck.

She continues: 'I hope that with the co-operation of our neighbours and the wider community of Kent blah blah blah the best chance possible of having a successful and vibrant airport.'

Well, good luck with that Ann! I do hope you mean that, unlike the previous head-in-sand policy adopted by Infratil, you will enter into some kind of meaningful dialogue with the 40,000 people your planes will be flying a few feet over!

Any-old-hoo, to show she means business she's changed the name of her holding company to Manston Skyport Ltd and appointed airport 'turnaround specialist' Alastair Welch to lead her team at Manston. Presumably he'll be the one with the hi-vis vest and ping-pong bats.

Of course, this may leave current RAF London Kent Manston Margate Tracey Emin Chas 'n' Dave Maggie Thatcher Schipol Skyport Poundland International Airport CEO, Smiler Buchanan, feeling as if he's been left with the spare set of keys at an environment where new partners are attracted to do business. Especially as Welch was the MD who presided over the hugely successful take-off of Southend Airport over the last six years.

Happy landings!

Click here to read the full article on the Global Airport Cities website.
Click here for Alastair Welch interview just weeks before he baled out of Sarfend.

Manston Pickle

You know me, I'm not one of those swivel-eyed rabble-rousers who's prone to posting controversial stuff in the hope of whipping up the lethargic locals into a state of revolutionary frenzy.

But no less an organ than the British Medical Journal has just reported a link between aircraft noise, especially at night, and the risk of heart disease and death from stroke. The report confirms what other studies have found, including one large-scale German analysis that concluded there was a 66% increased risk of heart attacks in men, and a whopping 139% increased risk in women, should knackered old jumbos be whining over your bonce while you're trying to get a bit of the old shut-eye.

I've run those odds past Cyril, my bean counter (he's a whizz with an Excel spreadsheet), and apparently that means there's a statistical chance of everyone in Ramsgate being dead by next Tuesday, should RAF London Kent Manston Margate Tracey Emin Maggie Thatcher Schipol International Airport decide to bust the toothless no night flights ban, which, er, it already does anyway.

Meanwhile Manston's bosses Infratil have been on a shindig to Shanghai, where they've decided to offload their other UK loss-making lump, Glasgow Prestwick Airport, onto the poor old Scottish taxpayer. You'd hope they'd be paying Lexy Salmon and his kilted crew to take it off their hands, but we all know from recent experience here on the Ile de Thanet what dunces public servants are when it comes to doing a commercial deal.

With RAFLKMMTEMTSIA up for sale since March last year, what's the betting Thanet Council's cack-handed Chief Executive Sue McGonigal trumpets a fabulous deal in the next few weeks to buy the £4m-a-year lossmaker for a bargain £3.4m, thus saving the twelve jobs at stake?!?!!!!?!!!

Click here to read about the latest BMJ report on aircraft noise.
Click here to read about Infratil's sale of Prestwick to the Jocks.

Airport Ditches Night Flights Ban

Lorks! Having now waded through the 32 pages of illiterate claptrap which masquerades as RAF London Kent Manston etc etc's submission to HMG's review of airport capacity, I can bring you this little gem:

Manston is already a licensed airfield with currently has [sic] no night-time restrictions

The submission was produced by Cheerful Charlie Buchanan, the airport's head honcho. Obvious typo aside (one of many), Chuckles seems to have forgotten the agreement that does currently exist, banning flights between 11pm and 7am. Oh, but of course, that's not enforceable. And despite assurances from the current Labour lot at Thanet Duffer Central that they would uphold the 'ban', they've already caved in to KLM, who fly out at 6.20 every morning.

The rest of the gobbledegook mainly bangs on about Manston becoming a 'reliever airport'. Presumably that entails flying planeloads of hookers over from Amsterdam to, er, relieve those ageing, predominantly UKIP-supporting, Thanetians whose arthritic joints have long robbed them of the capacity to do it themselves. Well, no, actually, in effect it means more knackered old jumbos from countries whose idea of maintenance begins and ends with superglue, knackering knackered old jumbos, and more dodgy military stuff headed for what the aforementioned UKIP supporters would describe as 'Bongo Bongo Land'.

If you can bear to wade through the entire submission, there's a link to it here.

Right, I'd better get off or I'll be late for my audition as the replacement for Louis Walsh on the X Factor. Be seeing you!

Superjumbo Lumbers Into Manston

Just a taster there of what we can expect this summer over Ramsgate. Yes, fellow millionaires, it's the brand new, just-out-of-the-box, British Airways Airbus A380 that's going to be doing training circuits over the town every day except Sundays for the next few weeks! (Thanks to reader Samantha for the vid.)

To be fair (Why? - Ed.) it's supposed to be ever so environmentally friendly. And I've been assured that the Rolls-Royce engines only explode every now and then, which is a great comfort.

Once that's gone, we've got the new BA Boeing 787 Dreamliners to look forward to. They only burst into flames about, ooh let me see, once a week.

Still, it'll give the planespotters something to jiggle their joysticks to, I suppose!

Update: Reader Steve writes 'Here are a few more shots of the A380 circuiting over the Channel this afternoon. I'm afraid they're a bit grainy, they were taken on a long lens from Ramsgate. Enjoy!'

Enjoy? What am I now, bloody planespotters' corner? Kuh!

BA A380 dive bombs fart farm

BA A380 dive bombs Deal

BA A380 dive bombs some clouds

BA A380 being followed by a little red thing

Er, not sure that's a plane - Ed.

Thumbs Up For Dreamland Scheme

This just in here at the Big Blog newsroom - The Duffers have been given the final go-ahead for the compulsory purchase of the Dreamland site over in The Smoke (Margate).

The decision, by High Court Judge Phillip Sycamore, paves the way for a £12m 'heritage theme park' (knackered old rides to you and me), with top designer Wayne Hemingway at the helm.

On balance it's probably good news for the Arsonists' Playground, but I can't help wondering when Thanet Council are going to start spending tens of millions on our derelict seafront here in Ramsgate. Is it because they are based in Margate? I think we should be told!

Click here for the full story on the KOS website.

Meridian News

Nothing to do with dear, lovely old Fred Dinenage. No. This is the story of what flies above. Specifically the state of the cargo crates that groan in and out of Chas 'n' Dave Tracey Emin Margate Manston RAF International Airport.

If you recall, Manston regular Meridian was recently banned from our skies for failing safety and technical inspections. although you can still see their logo proudly displayed on the freight section of the airport's website. More recently another Manston freight operator, Egyptair, has come under scrutiny and been warned that it could be banned from flying in EU airspace for 'systemic safety deficiencies'.

Just what Meridian's technical and safety failures consisted of has, up to now, been a mystery. But yesterday the findings of an FOI request to the Department for Transport fell into the old Eastcliff mitts, and it makes terrifying reading.

These are the lowlights:

Four inspections of Meridian were carried out in July, in addition to which the DfT has 'evidence indicating that an aircraft (operated by Meridian) took off significantly overweight on one occasion in July'.

The first CAA inspection on 8 July 2010 discovered, amongst other things, fuel leaks, no information about temporary repairs to No 3 engine, and bags not correctly secured and restrained.

On 15 July 2010 the CAA found delaminated flight deck windows, repair of a deferred defect extended 'well beyond limits', valve caps missing from main wheels, temporary repairs of a panel not recorded, no torque check on wing tank access panel screws, protective breathing equipment for crew unserviceable and a visible fuel leak still unattended to.

On 22 July 2010 the CAA noted flight crew seat covers worn and holed, no fireproof ID plate near the main entrance, a large screw head sheared off on the right hand wing, and seals on the right hand inboard fuel tank panels reused after fuel leak rectification.

A second inspection occurred on 22 July which found interior equipment not correctly secured, borrowed breathing equipment which the crew wasn't trained to use, the cargo locking mechanism not suitable for the pallet in use, a smoke detector in the lower hold unserviceable, incorrect performance calculations (presumably regarding things like weight and power on take-off), the flight engineer lacking an English language proficiency endorsement (and a spare pair of glasses!), old seals used on a fuel leak rectification and a fundamental error in load planning which required re-distribution of cargo.

Flamin' Nora! And to think those things were flying a few hundred feet above my bonce!

I know most Thanetians will probably roll their eyes and mutter about 'elf and safety which, considering some of the heaps you see on our roads, is only to be expected. I, on the other hand, am grateful that you can't buy an MOT for a knackered old DC8 in the local pub!

Plane English

Knowing my, er, penchant for anything to do with the aviation industry, several readers have sent me these pics of the latest livery for Kulula, a low cost South African airline. As you can see, they've painted their plane with all sorts of jolly witticisms!

Ordinarily I'd bin this sort of thing in the sure knowledge that publishing it in the 'social meedja' would only cause moist gussets and trebles all round in some Soho 'creative' agency that charges a million pounds an hour for the pleasure of installing a pinball machine in its coffee area and retro, table top Space Invaders to rest the client's latte on. Fab.

But hey-ho, I'm in a generous mood today! I'll go as far as to say it's a shame Kulula don't fly into RAF Chas 'n' Dave Manston Tracey Emin Margate London Kent International Airport. After all, at only a few hundred feet above the old cliff top mansion, I'd at least get some interesting reading to distract me from the noise!

EU Scrutinises More Manston Cargo Crates

Please excuse my extended hiatus, but I'm still doing a daily dash up and down the motorway to attend to the poorly pater in Skeggy. Hopefully he'll be up and tap dancing again soon!

Tonight I managed to trawl through the 167 emails that have accumulated in my absence. Most were drivel, but one caught the old glass eye. My informant tells me that EgyptAir, whose cargo flights regularly rattle the roof tiles and windows here at the cliff top mansion, 'has been warned that it risks inclusion on the European Commission's blacklist of banned airlines unless it addresses serious concerns in several areas of its operation.' According to Air Transport Intelligence:

The Commission states that 75 inspections since January last year turned up 240 individual safety findings, including 69 in the highest of the three classifying categories.

The Commission expressed 'serious concern' to the Egyptian civil aviation authority in May, regarding 'systemic safety deficiencies' at the flag-carrier.

It says the 'persistence of serious findings' in areas such as airworthiness, maintenance, operations and the safety of cargo on board has prompted a request for monthly reports, from Egyptian authorities, on implementation of a corrective action plan.

You can read more here. The news follows the recent banning of another Manston cargo carrier, Meridian, for 'technical failures and issues with maintenance'.

So, if I should wake up one morning with a pallet of dates wedged up my aris, I'll know who to blame!

Knackered Old Jets Banned

This just in here at the big ECR newsroom... the loudest planes to use Chas 'n' Dave Tracey Emin Margate Manston RAF International Airport have been banned from Belgian airspace for safety reasons!

The ban on Meridian Airways, which operates the ancient DC8s that rattle your windows and your Auntie Gladys's teeth while taking off and landing over our septic isle, was introduced yesterday. The Flems are also recommending that the Ghanaian registered, Ostend based cargo company is put on the EU airline blacklist.

The news follows several safety inspections which found technical failures and issues with the maintenance of Meridian's aircraft.

So, hurrah for the Belgians! If it wasn't for them, KCC, TDC and Manston owners Infratil would be happily allowing these buckets to operate right over our heads. What a quality operation we have in our back yard!

Click here for more on Meridian ban (in French)
Click here to see Meridian still proudly advertised on Manston website

Oozalum Bird

Flamin' Concordes! The training flights have returned! As a tribute, here's a short film I made a while back demonstrating just how crap it is to have knackered old 747s going over every nine minutes, a few hundred feet up. Doors and windows rattle and shake. Car alarms are set off.

Trouble is, there's no longer a complain button on the airport's website. With an important deadline to meet, there's nothing for it but to charge up the Priapus and charge up the M2 to the old London pied-a-terre for a spot of peace and quiet.

And there was me planning to spend a few sovs in the Millionaires' Playground tomorrow!

Update: Er, actually it's not a knackered old 747, it's this great big lump:

Meanwhile I see some doofus on the government's Spending Challenge website has proposed relocating freight flights from Heathrow to Manston. He/she/it says: 'Improvements to the infrastructure could be made at a lower cost than destroying villages in and around the current proposed Labour government preferred location (at Heathrow) [They've been scrapped, dillweed]. Noise and aircraft pollution would be directed out in to the North sea area.'

Pillock!

MK RIP

Here's a sight we won't be seeing over the Millionaires' Playground again! Canada-crashing, Nigeria-crashing MK Airlines lumbering in to Chas 'n' Dave Tracey Emin Margate International Airport.

According to my spies, a creditors meeting to wind up MK will take place on 10 June 2010 at the Holiday Inn Express, 58 Regents Park Road, London N3 3JN at 10.30hrs local. The amount owed by MK to date is apparently £104 million, of which £70 million has appeared as Trans Atlantic Aviation (TAA).

Perhaps Thanet Council should make the effort to toddle along and try to claim back the £30,000 worth of night flying fines they still owe us!

Midnight Plane To Georgia

So flights from Manston are currently banned after 11pm are they? Well what just rattled my windows at 12:03am then? A knackered old jumbo lumbering out after delivering another cargo of rotten bananas, that's what. Will the duffers at the council enforce the fine? Or will Councillor Baywatch just be receiving an extra large brarn envelope at Christmas? Kuh!

Oh dear. I seem to be repeating myself this week!