Independent assessors for Manston expansion plans say there is no need for the extra air freight capacity
The Development Consent Order (DCO) for the re-opening and development of Manston as a freight airport was rejected by the High Court in February 2021. This was after Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, in July 2020 had decided to ignore the advice of the Planning Inspectorate (PI) in October 2019, that the DCO should be rejected. Grant Shapps said it should go ahead, but the court said there had not been enough detail for reasons to go against the advice of the PI. Grant Shapps then had to “re-determine” the DCO application, and people could submit reasons to the PI for why the airport proposal should be refused. A team was set up as “independent assessor” to investigate the justification for the airport’s expansion, and report back to Mr Shapps. The team’s report has now been published. It concludes that “the levels of freight that the Proposed Development could expect to handle are modest and could be catered for at existing airports … Manston appears to offer no obvious advantages to outweigh the strong competition that such airports offer. …the Applicant has failed to demonstrate sufficient need for the Proposed Development”. Further submissions are welcomed until 19th November. Now 3rd December.
.
Tweet
The deadline for submissions has been extended from 19th November, to 3rd December 2021.
Update on Support Judicial Review of Manston Airport DCO
21.10.2021
The Independent Aviation Assessor’s Draft Report was published this morning.
It supports the conclusions reached by the Examining Authority two years ago when it recommended that the application should be refused.
The full report can be found at:
The Secretary of State for Transport is now inviting further representations with a deadline of 19 November 2021.
.
The Independent Aviation Assessor’s Report
https://infrastructure.
The letter of notification from the Department for Transport references Decarbonising Transport and Jet Zero and invites further comments but 19 November…
So it looks like good news for the campaigners against the airport’s plans, but they haven’t won yet!
The Secretary of State’s ‘Statement of Matters’ (PDF, 179 KB) issued on 11 June 2021 set out that he had appointed an independent aviation assessor to advise him on matters relating to the need for the development and to draft a report summarising those findings. This report has now been published.
The Secretary of State has now issued a letter (PDF, 176 KB) to the Applicant and Interested Parties inviting comments on the independent aviation assessor’s draft report (PDF, 3 MB), the suite of responses to his first consultation and other representations deemed relevant for the purposes of the re-determination of the application. The deadline for any response is 23:59 on 19 November 2021.
.
Department for Transport
Manston Airport Assessor’s Report
21st October 2021
6. Conclusions on the Need Case for Development
The ExA Report [Examining Authority] recommended that there was no need case for the Proposed Development, summarised in their Report of Findings and Conclusions:
“Given all the above evidence, the ExA concludes that the levels of freight that the Proposed Development could expect to handle are modest and could be catered for at existing airports (Heathrow, Stansted, EMA, and others if the demand existed). The ExA considers that Manston appears to offer no obvious advantages to outweigh the strong competition that such airports offer. The ExA therefore concludes that the Applicant has failed to demonstrate sufficient need for the Proposed Development, additional to (or different from) the need which is met by the provision of existing airports.” (E.R 5.7.28)
Overall, the Independent Assessor concludes that there have not been any significant or material changes to policy or the quantitative need case for the Proposed Development since July 2019 that would lead to different conclusions being reached (compared with the previous ExA conclusions) with respect to the need for the Manston development.
In particular:
The changes to policy, notably the withdrawal and reinstatement of the ANPS and adoption of the Thanet Local Plan, do not significantly change the policy context that was in place at the time of the Examination;
The recent growth in e-commerce sales is not driving a demand for additional runway capacity for dedicated air freighters in the South East;
Although there have been short term changes in the balance between bellyhold freight and dedicated freighter activity during the Covid-19 pandemic, these changes are not expected to be permanent, notwithstanding growth in ecommerce and changes to the UK’s trading patterns post-Brexit;
There is unlikely to be a significant reduction in bellyhold freight capacity (once the passenger market recovers) due to the introduction of narrow-bodied twin-engine aircraft;
Despite the uncertainty concerning the timescale for the Heathrow Airport Third Runway, changes since July 2019 as described do not lead the Independent Assessor to reach a different conclusion on the need case for Manston Airport. East Midlands Airport has sufficient capacity to handle additional dedicated freighter services should the market demand them, while the planning determination at Stansted confirms that significant freight capacity remains available; and
There is no new evidence to suggest a different conclusion should be drawn in respect of the locational performance of Manston compared to East Midlands Airport, and to a lesser extent Stansted, to that of the ExA Report.
The letter says (some extracts below):
Planning Act 2008 and the Infrastructure Planning (Examination Procedure) Rules 2010
Re-determination of the Application by RiverOak Strategic Partners Limited (“the Applicant”) for an Order granting Development Consent for the reopening and development of Manston Airport in Kent.
CONSULTATION ON THE INDEPENDENT AVIATION ASSESSOR’S DRAFT REPORT AND THE REPRESENTATIONS RECEIVED ON THE STATEMENT OF MATTERS
1. In its Order dated 15 February 2021 the High Court quashed the decision of the Secretary of State for Transport dated 9 July 2020 to grant development consent for the Manston Airport project in Thanet, Kent (“the Development”). The Secretary of State is now taking steps to re-determine the application submitted to the Planning Inspectorate by RiverOak Strategic Partners Limited on 17 July 2018 (“the Application”).
2. On 11 June 2021, the Secretary of State issued a statement setting out the matters to be considered further in the re-determination of the Application (“the Statement of Matters”) and invited Interested Parties to submit further representations on the Statement of Matters by 9 July 2021 (“the First Round of Consultation”). As set out in the letter dated 30 July 2021, this letter initiates the “Second Round of Consultation”.
Independent Aviation Assessor’s Draft Report 3.
As set out in the Statement of Matters, the Secretary of State has appointed an independent aviation assessor to advise him on matters relating to need for the Development and to produce a report summarising those findings. The independent aviation assessor’s draft report has been published on the Planning Inspectorate’s website at: • https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/south-east/manstonairport/?ipcsection=docs
4. The Secretary of State invites representations from the Applicant and any Interested Party on the independent aviation assessor’s draft report.
Representations Received on the Statement of Matters
5. To provide Interested Parties with the opportunity to consider the representations received in response to the Statement of Matters, the Secretary of State published representations from the First Round of Consultation on 30 July 2021 at: • https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/south-east/manstonairport/?ipcsection=docs&stage=6&filter1=Re-determination
6. The Secretary of State now invites submissions from the Applicant and any Interested Party on the representations received in response to his First Round of Consultation.
The deadline for responses is 19 November 2021.
11. Due to Covid-19, submissions sent by post may be subject to delay therefore responses on the information requested above should be submitted, if possible, by email to manstonairport@planninginspectorate.gov.uk
.
See earlier:
Update from Jenny Dawes, from the local campaign. 11th July 2021
The DCO for the re-opening and development of Manston Airport was quashed in February. It took until June for the Secretary of State for Transport to issue the attached Statement of Matters setting out the four areas on which he was inviting further submissions from Interested Parties. We were given four weeks to respond.
An “independent aviation assessor” has been appointed and a report summarising his findings will be published on the PINS website https://infrastructure.
Once the assessor’s report and all submissions are published there will be a further 28 days for Interested Parties to comment. It’s a long process with no indication of when the Secretary of State will re-determine the application for a DCO.
The list of questions is interesting but basically – what’s changed in the last year? We’d argue that a lot has changed but nothing that makes Manston any more viable or desirable. York Aviation, who delivered two reports for the previous site owners, stand by everything in those reports.
Jenny’s solicitors, Harrison Grant, instructed an independent expert, as did Ramsgate town they have done everything they can, and it just a matter of waiting for an uncertain outcome.
The Transport Sec of State, Shapps, has to re-determine the DCO application of Manston airport. People had until 9th July 2021 to inform the Planning Inspectorate of any matters the Sec of State must now take into account, eg. national or local policies.
11th June 2021
Deadline for submissions – 9th July – for Transport Sec of State re-determination of Manston DCO
RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP) have been trying for a long time to turn Manston back into a functioning freight airport. The development has to go through the DCO process. In July 2020, DfT Sec of State Grant Shapps, decided to ignore the Planning Inspectorate’s advice, and allow the DCO. This was then legally challenged by local campaigner, Jenny Dawes. In February a High Court judge ruled that the DCO had been quashed, because the decision approval letter issued from the Minister of State did not contain enough detail about why approval was given against the advice of the Planning Inspectorate and said the Judicial Review would not be contested. Now the DfT says the DCO will be re-determined, and people have until the 9th July to submit more evidence. The Secretary of State is now asking for more evidence on the extent to which current national or local policies (including any changes since 9 July 2020) such as the re-instatement of the ANPS, future level of demand, future benefits, other material matters, and the extent to which the Secretary of State should, have regard to the Sixth carbon budget (covering the years between 2033 – 2037).
Click here to view full story…
Manston DCO officially quashed – fresh decision from Sec of State only way the freight airport could proceed
Manston airport becoming a freight airport is the first Development Consent Order (DCO) for an airport. The Planning Inspectorate (PI) advised the DfT that plans should be rejected in October 2019. The DfT then wanted more information about the plans, from the airport developers, RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP). In July 2020, Sec of State Grant Shapps, for the DfT decided to ignore the PI’s advice, and allow the DCO. This was then legally challenged by local campaigner, Jenny Dawes, and the challenge was allowed to go ahead, in October 2020. By December the Grant Shapps had agreed that his decision approval letter did not contain enough detail about why approval was given against the advice of the PI – so the DCO was quashed. Now on 15th February a High Court judge has ruled that the DCO is quashed. The Defendant (Secretary of State for Transport) and RSP will pay Jenny Dawes’ “reasonable costs” up to £70,000. Grant Shapps, will now need to issue a renewed decision on the DCO. If there is another DCO similar to the original, the same arguments against it still stand, based on need, breach of procedural requirements, and the Net Zero carbon duty. If he decides against another DCO, then RSP may bring another legal challenge, or give up.
Manston Airport is the first ever proposed airport development to go through the DCO examination process, and the claim was the first challenge to an airport DCO. It is understood that the DCO is the first grant of consent for a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) to be quashed since the introduction of the Planning Act 2008.
Click here to view full story…
.
.