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I have lived in Thanet for twenty years. Why not enlarge Manston?
Because it is too far from London, where most people want to
go, and the present road system could not take the extra traffic.
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| Bea
Pinaffo, Broadstairs |
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Both Cliffe and Manston are about imported goods which cost
jobs, passenger convenience is a red-herring used by developers
to justify public money being spent to their advantage. The
SERAS report makes a play at justification by using passenger
and export cargo figures but says little about imported tonnage.
Global markets cost more jobs. |
| Bernard
Clayson, Birchington |
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I don't think Rachel from Gravesend will find it such a good
idea to build the airport at Cliffe when she looks at the maps
and finds herself right under the flight path, and only a few
miles from touchdown ! |
| Colin,
Rochester |
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A reader asks, "What's wrong with Manston ? It's already
built." This epitomises the black and white attitudes that
prevail within the airports debate, and prevent sensible discussion.
Manston has a runway. It requires substantial further development
in order to function effectively as a sub-regional airport.
Only today, the Wiggins Group PLC, which runs Manston is quoted,
saying they intend to bring forward plans for a passenger terminal
to handle up just 1.5 million passengers per year. This wouldn't
make much of a dent in the under-capacity figures, which have
been presented by the Government in the recent SERAS report.
Manston would require huge investment and massive further development
to serve as an alternative to Cliffe. So, we have a situation
where certain individuals consider it unthinkable to build at
Cliffe, but OK to go ahead at Manston, simply because Manston
has historically been used for some limited aviation activity.!
In other words, it is totally unacceptable to build more airports,
for environmental reasons, but that existing airports can be
expanded with no environmental concerns whatsoever. Such an
argument is perverse, to say the least. Surely environmental
concerns should be paramount in the decision-making process,
whether we are talking of expanding existing airports, OR creating
new ones? |
| Doug
Moon, Gillingham |
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The whole 'Cliffe Airport' thing, is, I'm sure, a smoke screen
(in the short term) to make the necessary expansions of the
other South East airports, seem the least damaging route to
follow. However, having tabled the 'Cliffe' proposal, you can
bet, that in the long term, say 10-15 years, when Joe Public,
has got used to the idea,and the objectors have lost their backing
due to the length of time involved, it WILL go ahead, no matter
what we say. |
| Doug
Moon, Gillingham |
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It's not a case of being a NIMBY or not. It's a question of
enough being enough. Where are we going with all this unchecked
development? You can call it progress but does it make anyone
really happy? We all seem to want simpler less stressful lives
and yet we go along with or demand more and more. It seems obvious
to me that the Government has exercised great deviousness and
unfairness in the process of planning for airports in the South
East and is trying to bulldoze the its plans through... More |
| Colin
Elliott, Cliffe |
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should not take too much notice of claims that most people supporting
Manston and living in Thanet are Wiggins shareholders. The fact
of the matter is that Manston is already built and therefore
there would not be anywhere as near as much cost involved, and
the benefits to the area far outway any arguement against it.
To suggest building a new airport at Cliffe is sheer stupidity.
PS I am a Wiggins shareholder, and if Manston is not developed
as an airport, it is still worth a fortune should it be used
for housing development. |
| Mandy |
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What's wrong with Manston - it's already built !! |
| Mark
Wenman, Orpington |
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Judging by the type of postings from Thanet, most if not all
of those supporting the development of Manston over Cliffe appear
to be Wiggins shareholders... |
| Keith,
Broadstairs |
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Unlike the residents of Cliffe, we in Thanet were not given
the right or the time to protest BEFORE our local planners decided
that Manston would become a commercial airport. I have lived
in Thanet for more than 30 years and had rarely been bothered
by Manston (usually on air show days, or Concorde taking off).
However from the moment that Wiggins moved in I, and I would
suggest 75 per cent of the residents of Thanet, have been subjected
to intolerable noise levels from aircraft both in our houses
and in the streets of Ramsgate etc. It was several months until
we found out that our council had allowed a certificate of existing
use to be issued to Wiggins, this was done under delegated powers,
where the planning authority does not have advertise or to inform
anyone of the decisions that they have taken. By the time we
found out it was already to late to challenge this decision
in the courts. We subsequently managed to bring a later certificate
to judicial review but lost on appeal because of the earlier
certificate. We also found out that the MOD had commissioned
an EIA on Manston, this study (which we have never been allowed
to see) ruled out Manston as being suitable to become a major
airport on the grounds that it was environmentally compromised
by being to close to Ramsgate. Read
more >> |
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David Britton, Ramsgate |
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With all this talk about building a new airport at Cliffe, and
the amount of time and money that will be spent on it, why not
use Manston Airport, it is a ready made site and with some alterations
it will achieve a less expensive and more efficient place than
Cliffe. Also the road link is 100% better than it used to be.
Please, can we use Manston instead of Cliffe, we have an employment
problem here that could be rectified? |
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Pam Holness, Birchington |
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It's stupid that they want to build a airport over important
wildlife. |
| Monkey,
the tree |
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The failure of the BBC to adequately cover the recent anti Cliffe
Airport march in Chatham, indicates that the BBC is now, more
than ever, merely a organ of Labour Party government propaganda
and cannot be trusted to collect and disseminate news on this
important issue. Where is impartiality? Where is truth? |
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Robert Lindley, Tunbridge Wells |
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Living in Tenterden I can hardly be described as a NIMBY. My
objections to the Cliffe Airport concern the south east as a
whole. Already 35 million people and three million lorries pass
through Kent to and from the Channel crossings. The questions
are; can the county cope with the increased traffic, housing
and demand on services? Is there sufficient water for the Government's
expectation of 80,000 more houses in the area to serve the airport?
Will a new river have to be constructed to cope with the run-off
from the roofs, roads, hardstands, runways, etc? Will there
have to be a M25/2 constructed to cope with the traffic? Finally,
why should the south east be expected to act as the 'server'
to the rest of the UK, and, is a yet another airport really
needed? Are the existing airports really functioning at full
capacity? |
| Bryan
James, Tenterden |
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