RiverOak (RSP) Apply for a new licence to access the Manston Airport site

RiverOak Strategic Partnership Limited (RSP) have had to apply for a new licence to access the Manston Airport site.

The news comes as the owners of the site, Stone Hill Park issued a statement that they would refuse access to the site as the original licence had been granted to the the American Investment company that is no longer involved.

Ray Mallon, spokesman for Stone Hill Park, said: “In the weeks leading up to this access, Stone Hill Park asked RSP on several occasions to clarify they had the necessary authority to access our land and RSP was either unable or unwilling to do so.

“It is our view and that of our legal advisor that the Section 53 authorisation was not lawfully granted as the applicant had withdrawn from the process by the date of grant. As a result, if RSP wish to pursue a DCO application in relation to the land owned by SHP then our advice was they now needed to apply in their own name, which they have now done.”

Tony Freudman, a director of RiverOak said that the issue of applying for a new licence was in hand and was only a minor inconvenience: “It is not going to delay anything and we have made a fresh application to the planning inspectorate which is effectively being made by the same team.”

As ever in this campaign, it goes to show that you can never be certain of any timescales and we wait to see if this does indeed affect RSP’s proposed timetable, given how long it took to gain access previously.

You can read the report here:
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/thanet/news/potential-buyers-of-manston-fight-123919/

Stone Hill Park’s Statement:
http://www.stonehillpark.co.uk/statement-regarding-s53-access-for-rsp-to-stone-hill-park-development-site