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Change of Use Applications at Manston Airport Set for Appeals – Your Action Required

Neil Jordan

Lothian Shelf (718) has appealed to the Secretary of State against Thanet District Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for:

  • Building 870, Manston Airport, Manston, Ramsgate CT12 5BL – Change of use from airport use to general industrial use together with four storey extension and insertion of windows. Reference: APP/Z2260/W/15/3140990

Lothian Shelf (718) has also appealed to the Secretary of State against Thanet District Council’s failure to give notice of its decision within the appropriate period on planning applications for:

  • Building 4, Manston Airport, Spitfire Way, Manston, Ramsgate CT12 5FF – Change of use from airport use to general industrial use. Reference: APP/Z2260/W/15/3140994
  • Manston Airport Cargo Centre & Responding Vehicle Point (Building 3), Spitfire Way, Manston, Ramsgate CT12 5FF – Change of use from airport use to storage and distribution use. Reference: APP/Z2260/W/15/3140992
  • Building South of Terminal (Hanger 1), Manston Airport, Manston, Ramsgate CT12 5BL – Change of use from airport use to general industrial for a temporary period of 3 years. Reference: APP/Z2260/W/15/3140995 – 10th Feb

Please send your own comments before the 10th February 2016 against at least the one for Building 870 to back up the Council’s decision to refuse permission via www.planningportal.gov.uk/planning/appeals/online/comment

You will have to register your details first, and use the 7 digit number at the end of the reference.

 

This is our comment that has been entered against the appeal on the decision for building 870:

The Supporters of Manston Airport oppose this planning application and have the following points to make:

  1. The land and the buildings at Manston Airport are still designated under the existing, current local plan as being for aviation use. Thanet District Council has also previously identified the strategic and economic role of the Airport in the Local Plan. Quote “The Council is acutely aware of the need to prevent development that might prejudice the future operation and expansion of the airport” (Appendix 1)
  2. To allow any change of use would set a precedent to other applications in the pipeline which require changing the use of aviation-related buildings at Manston Airport. Over the past year the current owners of Manston Airport have systematically stripped it of anything aviation related. These applications are just a further step in a cynical ploy to destroy this valuable asset airport and turn it into a garden city.
  3. Whilst we absolutely value the contribution of new business to Thanet’s economy and job market we feel that there must be other options available to them within Thanet. We feel there is no necessity to use aviation related buildings when there are hundreds of other business units in Thanet many of which are empty. (See Appendix 2)
  4. The current policy is to safeguard the airport. Surely it must follow that it is down to the applicant to produce robust evidence to demonstrate that there are no alternatives on sites with lawful, industrial use which enjoy a policy presumption in favour of approval, rather than to have to be approved contrary to development plan policy.The applicant therefore needs to identify all potential sites and premises in Thanet then demonstrate exactly why each site was not appropriate for their proposal. The supporting information provided does not represent a sufficiently robust appraisal to demonstrate why the buildings should be taken out of airport use against currently adopted local plan policy for the airport.
  5. We have concerns that the development would contravene current guidelines in respect of visual impact, that is the skyline, and also that any potential groundwork could contaminate valuable groundwater sources. (See Appendix 3)
  6. We would specifically question whether a sitting tenant on the airport site would prejudicially affect the process of any imminent Compulsory Purchase Order particularly if this business were not related to aviation.

In Conclusion

  • Until the existing Local Plan has been revised and adopted the buildings at Manston Airport should be kept for aviation related use only as stated in the current Plan.
  • Until a decision regarding the CPO is made there should be no planning permission given. A further period of soft market testing to seek an indemnity partner for the compulsory purchase of the airport has just today (15.1.16) been launched in the OJEU. http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED%3ANOTICE%3A13495-2016%3ATEXT%3AEN%3AHTML
  • Thanet District Council, Boris Johnson, Grant Shapps, John Hayes, Patrick McLoughlin and David Cameron, amongst others, have all said that Manston Airport is a national asset and could be a partial solution to runway shortage in the South East. They were all elected last May with a mandate to protect and re-open Manston Airport not to grant change of use away from aviation. (See Appendix 4)
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APPENDIX 1
Extracts from Thanet Local Plan 2006 Saved Policies, Chapter 2 – Economic Development & Regeneration.

2.51 Kent International Airport possesses one of the longest runways in the country (effectively the sixth longest runway at present), together with the substantial areas of land available for employment purposes adjacent to the runway (in excess of 100 hectares of land with planning permission for a range of business uses). In the Council’s view, this means that the airport should play an important part in the economic regeneration not just of Thanet, but of the whole of East Kent. The Council, therefore, supports fully the development of Kent International Airport and seeks to exploit the opportunities afforded by the development of the airport to encourage further development in the adjoining business parks, thus creating a major catalyst for the regeneration of the Thanet economy.

2.74. Airside Development Area. In order to provide for the operational development of the airport, land north of the runway, and including the land north of the B2050, is reserved for airside development purposes. In this context, airside development is defined as uses with an operational requirement for direct access to aircraft and therefore dependent on a location immediately adjacent to the runway or capable of direct access to it via taxiways. This includes uses based on:
1. Operation of passenger handling services
2. Air cargo operations related to the site
3. Operation of aircraft maintenance and manufacturing
4. Services ancillary to the maintenance and operation of the airport

2.75. Consequently, the Local Planning Authority will oppose any development or use of land in the defined area which does not specifically require an airside location.

2.81. Airport Safeguarding
The Council is acutely aware of the need to prevent development that might prejudice the future operation and expansion of the airport, or be adversely affected by Airport operations. The Local Plan contains policies relating to the expansion of the airport (Policies EC2-EC6 above), aircraft noise (Policies EP7 and EP8) and air quality monitoring (Policy EP5), which should help to ensure that this does not happen.

2.81. Furthermore, the Civil Aviation Authority has identified development safeguarding zones around the airport. Within these zones, the local planning authority is required to consult the airport operators regarding different forms of development that might affect Airport operations.

2.82. The LPA will take account of concerns expressed by the airport operators in relation to such development, in addition to its own assessment about development which might prejudice the development of the airport.

APPENDIX 2
POLICY EC12 – RETENTION OF EMPLOYMENT SITES
THE FOLLOWING SITES, AS IDENTIFIED ON THE PROPOSALS MAP, WILL BE RETAINED FOR EMPLOYMENT USES FALLING WITHIN USE CLASSES B1 AND B8 IN LOCATIONS CLOSE TO RESIDENTIAL AREAS, WITH ADDITIONAL B2 USE AWAY FROM RESIDENTIAL AREAS:
1. ALL SITES SPECIFICALLY IDENTIFIED UNDER POLICY EC1; AND
2. EXISTING BUSINESS SITES AND PREMISES IDENTIFIED ON THE PROPOSALS MAP AND SET OUT IN THE TABLE BELOW:
SITE LOCATION
CROMPTONS SITE, POORHOLE LANE BROADSTAIRS PYSONS ROAD INDUSTRIAL ESTATE BROADSTAIRS THANET REACH BUSINESS PARK (part) BROADSTAIRS
DANE VALLEY INDUSTRIAL ESTATE ST.PETERS, BROADSTAIRS NORTHDOWN INDUSTRIAL ESTATE CLIFFSEND
JENTEX SITE MANSTON
MANSTON BUSINESS PARK (part) MANSTON MANSTON GREEN MARGATE
ALL SAINTS INDUSTRIAL ESTATE MARGATE
WESTWOOD INDUSTRIAL ESTATE MARGATE TIVOLI ROAD INDUSTRIAL ESTATE MARGATE FULLERS YARD, VICTORIA ROAD MARGATE LAUNDRY ROAD INDUSTRIAL ESTATE MINSTER EUROKENT BUSINESS PARK (part) RAMSGATE HAINE ROAD INDUSTRIAL ESTATE RAMSGATE
MANSTON ROAD INDUSTRIAL ESTATE RAMSGATE ST.LAWRENCE INDUSTRIAL ESTATE RAMSGATE 140-144, NEWINGTON ROAD RAMSGATE
MAGNET & SOUTHERN, NEWINGTON ROAD RAMSGATE PRINCES ROAD DEPOT/PIONEER BUSINESS PARK RAMSGATE WHITEHALL ROAD INDUSTRIAL ESTATE RAMSGATE
HEDGEND INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, THANET WAY ST.NICHOLAS-AT-WADE FACTORIES, SUFFOLK AVENUE WESTGATE

APPENDIX 3
POLICY EC2 – KENT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (Extracts)
PROPOSALS THAT WOULD SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT, EXPANSION AND DIVERSIFICATION OF KENT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WILL ONLY BE PERMITTED SUBJECT TO THE FOLLOWING REQUIREMENTS:
2. NEW BUILT DEVELOPMENT IS TO BE DESIGNED TO MINIMISE VISUAL IMPACT ON THE OPEN LANDSCAPE OF THE CENTRAL ISLAND. PARTICULAR ATTENTION MUST BE GIVEN TO ROOFSCAPE AND TO MINIMISING THE MASS OF THE BUILDINGS AT THE SKYLINE WHEN VIEWED FROM THE SOUTH
6. DEVELOPMENT WILL NOT BE PERMITTED WITHIN THE AIRPORT COMPLEX TO THE SOUTH OF THE AIRSIDE DEVELOPMENT SITE IDENTIFIED IN POLICY EC4, UNLESS IT HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED THAT THE DEVELOPMENT IS NECESSARY FOR THE PURPOSE OF AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT;
8. IT MUST BE DEMONSTRATED THAT NEW DEVELOPMENT CANNOT CONTAMINATE GROUNDWATER SOURCES OR THAT APPROPRIATE MITIGATION MEASURES WILL BE INCORPORATED IN THE DEVELOPMENT TO PREVENT CONTAMINATION.
APPENDIX 4
“Manston has been here almost since flight began… local airports are central to local economies.” – Transport Minister John Hayes

The Prime Minister told BBC South East that the Conservative plan would give Manston every chance. He said: “In terms of aviation we have the big review of Heathrow and Gatwick and other options to come out in the summer, but I am very keen that we save Manston Airport and we have an action plan to do just that. 5.5.15
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/…/n…/pm-david-cameron-keen-to-36 390/

Manston airport: Conservative party chairman Grant Shapps says “we back you” to supporters trying to reopen the Thanet airfield.
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent-bus…/county-news/minister-manston-key-part-of-23674/

The transport secretary has given his support to campaigners and local politicians fighting to save Kent’s Manston Airport.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-32162405

‪#‎SaveManston‬