Owner of Manston airport has plans to turn it into a “garden city”
Date added: 27 May, 2014
Ann Gloag, the owner of Manston, is said to be considering turning the site into a “garden city.” She is in talks with local landowners and “other interested parties” about the future of the site, for a mixed-use scheme (including some jobs) with thousands of homes. A garden city proposal could incorporate other schemes in the Thanet area, including Discovery Park. There is already unemployment in the Thanet area of east Kent, and income levels below the national average. Manston has been losing £10,000 a day and is probably no longer viable as an airport – its location is wrong. If the airport site is considered as a garden city, getting planning permission would be easier. George Osborne said in March that urban development corporations, which speed up planning and cut red tape, would be set up to drive forward selected garden cities. The government has announced plans for one at Ebbsfleet, Kent. The area already has problems with water supply, with some of the lowest levels of rainfall in the UK. One commentator says the expression ‘Garden City’ is a euphemism for a giant housing estate – not something the Thanet district needs.
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Manston owner ‘plans to turn airport site into garden city’
The owner of Manston airport in Kent, which was closed earlier this month, is considering turning the site into a garden city.
Ann Gloag, who made her fortune running transport company Stagecoach, is in talks with local landowners and “other interested parties” about the future of the airport site – bought last November for £1 – and could create a mixed-use scheme with thousands of homes, the Timesreported.
A garden city proposal could incorporate other schemes in the Thanet area, including Discovery Park Kent, the former Pfizer campus in Sandwich.
Residents of Thanet are among the lowest earners in the country, and Gloag was criticised for closing the airport with the loss of 140 jobs, especially as she had said last October that the airport had “real potential for growth”.
Manston, which has one of the longest runways in Europe, dates back to the First World War and was used as a base for RAF squadrons during the Second World War.
Gloag said in March that the airport was losing £10,000 a day and was no longer viable. She rejected a £7 million offer from US investment group RiverOak.
The Manston airport management team is said to have held initial discussions with Thanet council about building homes on the site.
If the airport site were to be deemed a garden city it could make it easier to secure planning permission. George Osborne said in March that urban development corporations, which speed up planning and cut red tape, would be set up to drive forward selected garden cities.
Supporters of the airport, including Conservative MP for Thanet North, Sir Roger Gale, are trying to convince the council to carry out a compulsory purchase order of the site, which could be funded by RiverOak.
Sir Roger said: “Manston airport has always been an airport and should remain an airport. There is no point creating more homes here when there are no jobs, which Ann Gloag would know if she was not living 600 miles away.”
A spokesman for Manston airport told the newspaper: “A number of people have approached the owners with ideas for the future of the site and they will be considered over the coming months. No decisions have been made by the owners.”
One of the comments on the article:
The expression ‘Garden City’ is a euphemism for a giant housing estate which is the last thing the Thanet district needs. The preemptive closure of the airport by a Scottish tycoon who had promised great things when purchasing it barely six months before and the consequent loss of around 150 local jobs was a severe blow to an area with high levels of unemployment.
Rather than a housing estate the area needs a vibrant and successful source of employment and revenue which is precisely what Manston Airport could become under the right ownership.
There are potential buyers of the site that are willing to invest and make it work as an airport but the current owner clearly feels there is more to be made from building houses there and has turned down several reasonable offers which would have provided an instant profit.
It is obvious that the current owner does not have the best interests of the local population at heart and that anything she creates will be for personal gain only
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Another says:
“She might have the right idea in how to develop this site for the best.
It was obviously not viable as an airport, despite much efforts including government subsidies to make it so.
So, in the way of such things, an entrepreneur is given the opportunity to make better use of this land.
Or we could ask the government to take over this piece of land to do something useful with it, And then wait until hell freezes over.
I hold no brief for this woman who has bought this land, I do not even know who she is.
And if she is a true entrepreneur she will do something from which she will profit. It is the nature of business.
But for good or for ill, she will create something.”
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Posted: Tuesday, May 27th, 2014. Filed in News about Airports, Recent News.
http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2014/05/27/48097/manston-owner-plans-to-turn-airport-site-into-garden.html