I have heard it so many times in Thanet
politics “You couldn’t make it up could you”.
No sooner than Roger Latchford OBE has donned
his purple rosette on behalf of UKIP, he is on telly spouting off about his pet
subject, Manston Aerodrome. I seem to
remember two years ago, the good people of Ramsgate gave a resounding NO to
night flying at said aerodrome and voted in a Labour Ramsgate Town Council,
tipping the balance at Thanet District Council in favour of Labour.
Well ol’ Rog OBE is now in charge of a group of
virgin councillors without an email amongst them. Let us consider our Roger’s pedigree,
he was the “brains” behind the Ezekiel Conservative administration. Well at
least he was Deputy Leader. No problem there then.
When Rog was in power last time he was in
charge of such successful schemes as EKO and Chinagate(way) which we all are appreciating to this day. Just a small reminder, in case you have
forgotten, these schemes were joint KCC / TDC initiatives in the time of the
Ezekiel administration. Excuse me for being a cynic but has Paul Carter just
received SEVEN more votes.
Next we will be hearing that Pleasurama is
starting again.
Ken, your resounding 'no' was a little over 2,000 people responding to a TDC poorly publicised survey out of some 130,000 plus Thanet residents.
ReplyDeleteNobody wants a high number of night flights, but a bit of flexibility rather than an outright rejection would not go amiss. On an island wide vote of airport expansion I think Roger Latchford might well get rather more support than you.
Oh, and why the sarcasism on the OBE. At least he got one.
Allan, The resounding "no I was referring to, was the election of 15 out of the 16 RTC councillors as Labour councillors in 2011... A higher percentage than UKIP achieved at county level in 2013
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with Mr Latchford's OBE so long as he deserved it. I am sure it was not for services to Thanet politics.
Well, if living in a predominantly Labour town is your scene, Ken, then fine, but it must surely devalue your property. Not the sort of recommendation to attract the more discerning buyers.
DeleteSo now we can choose which way we want our properties devalued, aeroplanes or the Labour party?
ReplyDeleteNot so much a choice as a fact of market reality, SG. People pay more to live in perceived middle class suberbs than in working class ones.
DeleteAs for the aeroplanes, since the success of the airport effects the whole of East Kent, it should not be an issue decided by the people of Ramsgate in isolation.
I suppose you think planes flying over night and day will increase property values, if that's what rings your bells.
ReplyDeleteLets get real here, I read the Master Plan for Kent International Airport in 2009 when "errhum" millions of passengers were expected by 2018. Four years on, there are only about the same number of passengers using the airport, if not less.
There is nothing preventing the daytime expansion of Manston, except lack of passengers.
Kent International will not take off, it will not be Heathrow in East Kent and the sooner its supporters get real about its prospects the better it will be. It is not the Holy Grail for Thanet employment.
Funnily enough, I want to see the airport prosper as an integrated part of the community with a use which is neighbourhood friendly,
I am not going to get into an argument with you on this one Allan because it is all heresay. Unless businesses and speculators of all shapes and sizes start consulting with residents in a meaningful way, (and preferably through civic socieites, not discredited grandstanding councillors) then it will always be stalemate.
ReplyDeleteKen, I already said that nobody wants planes flying over at all hours, simply a bit of flexibility. Also, please do not treat me as an idiot for one would have to be one to even remotely consider the prospect of an East Kent Heathrow. However, a regional airport on the Southend scale is not beyong the bounds of possibility given a bit of local support instead of abject negativity from our current local government administration.
ReplyDeleteWhat is hearsay, SG, that property prices are better in perceived middle class areas. Simply compare same type of house on a like for like basis between Ramsgate and Broadstairs and then look at the values.
ReplyDeleteAgree with you though about resident consultation, but there has to be balance. Unless the residents encourage business into the area it simply will not come and we have all seen the disastrous effects of years of Thanet nimbyism for a long time now.
Allan, There are no obstacles from the current local government administration, they are only your scapegoat for the airport's malaise. What part of "There is nothing preventing the daytime expansion of Manston, except lack of passengers" did you not understand?
ReplyDeleteThe total negative attitude to any scope on night flights is the issue and please stop being a supercilious pratt trying to put down others who disagree with you. I understand perfectly well and particularly that our local illustrious leader even turned down the chance to be interviewed by BBC and get some good PR for the airport on the start of the KLM service on the excuse he was in purdah. The man was not even a candidate.
DeleteAllan, you were the one who entered my blog with derogratory tones, if the fire's to hot get out of the kitchen.
DeleteNo self-respecting businesses will set up in Thanet while the locals cannot agree on their own politics. This is not a matter of politics, it is a lack of passengers.
Sadly no operator is likely to invest any time or money in Manston all the time all the usual suspects object to any and all development in Thanet of any kind!
ReplyDeleteThanet is sadly being dragged exhonerably towards the derelict wasteland it will inevitably become, unless these serial protesters are once and for all dismissed, and FINALLY Thanet becomes a progress friendly part of Kent.
Any thoughts on the airport, John.?
DeleteMany Readit.
DeleteIt could and should be deveoped for both freight and passengers. It is no further from London than Luton, and the journey at any time is preferable to that from Luton. Add to that the proximity to teh HST rail network from Kent, IF properly supported and developed, it would be one of Thanet's greatest assets.
But as I say above, sadly no operator in their right mind would spend large amounts of time and money trying to build up such a facility when there is such a TINY but noisy minority nimby element in Thanet that objects to anything that will generate jobs and wealth.
Wjat SHOULD happen is that Manston should be long leased/sold to a company or entity that can develop the airport and release the potential it clearly represents, and most importantly, that company should have the 100% support of TDC and KCC.
John, I could agree with most of what you said, hardly any mention of politicas and no mention of night flights. However Luton is 34 miles from tower bridge whilst Manston is 76 miles
ReplyDeleteThe airport as been owned by a couple of companies with free reign to invest and expand as they see fit. Market forces seem to have scuppered the success of the airport as passengers have voted with their feet and flown fom elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteLatchford is out of touch.
Disagree.. This is a very important asset to our area. Things such as chinkie gateway, the link to manston and of course the tourism and opportunities to the area given on the whole outweigh any negatives. Common sense states you do not buy a house near an airport or indeed under a flight path, any searches would bring this up regardless. The airport was there long before many of those properties below the flight path. I am not denying the impact it could possibly have but it is typical nimby's and again as mentioned above the structured or if one put's this into context the consultation or lack of it! On the other hand perhaps you would suggest we could all go down to margate and don a wig and be Mary Portas instead!
ReplyDeleteWhy mention politicas readit? The tiny minorities of nimbys will ALWAYS go out of their way to block any and all progress in Thanet, no matter how destructive their efforts are.
ReplyDeleteNo need to mention night flights specifically, "that company should have the 100% support of TDC and KCC" I think that covers that particular nicely. Now lets see, is it faster to try to get to twr bridge or anywhere South of the River from Luton or from Manston by either road or public transport....
" free reign to invest and expand as they see fit" Really? They treid to expand necessitating some use or ability to use night flights, I forget, did the council give that expandsion free reign? When Virgin were using the airport for training, necessitating flying circuits, was that something that the nimbys supported in generating use and business to the airport?
Market forces want the airport Anon 22:40, TDC is not comfortable putting the nimbys in their place over this, or any other issue, all to the detriment of Thanet. YOU are out of touch, and sadly not conversant with business practices or what constitues "free reign to invest and expand as they see fit"
See John, you make a very reasonable statement that most people in Thanet could support with regard to the airport but when you explain your real agenda you want to give the airport "carte blanche" to do whatever it likes. No busines in any area of the UK should be given that freedom.
ReplyDeleteAny caveat you wish to add about Luton will not make it the same distance from London as Thanet, also Luton is surrounded by urbanism, Thanet is surrounded on 3 sides by water.
Readit, Carde blanche would involve unrestricted flights of any aircraft day or night, 24/7. As we know, that is not what was asked for, nowhere NEAR what was asked, yet still the nimbys whined on, ensuring that the spineless TDC caved in to the volumous nimbys that seek to see the destruction of Thanet as soon as reasonably practical.
DeleteYep, Thanet is surrounded on 3 sides with water, that's right, ome wonders then why the TINY minority who have bouight houses near an EXISTING AIRPORT whine and whine about the airport they moved next to.
Tell me, why should the huge benefits of an airport be lost because a few nimbys that moved next to an EXISTING AIRPORT don't like it?
Manston and its aeroplanes have been there continuously since 1915. It puzzles me why some people buy a subsequently built house under the flight path and then set about the exciting task of getting the aircraft banned.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Zoopla If you bought a average price property in Broadstairs 5 year ago its now worth £35,000 less (14% drop), from 2 years ago you would have lost £19,000, 8% drop.
ReplyDeleteThe figures for Ramsgate are 5 years ago £26,000 drop - 14% and 2 years ago £2,500 drop 1.53%. Looks like the wise man would have bought in Ramsgate 2 years ago.
Maybe the people recently buying in Ramsgate are more confident of a good nights sleep.
That really is the most desperate yet amusing stretch i have EVER seen on this or any other issue, thank you for the best laugh of May so far!
DeleteZoopla is a joke and regarded as such by most surveyors and estate agents. Nonetheless, prices, other than in London, are nationally down on where they were five years ago so no local conclusions to be drawn from that.
ReplyDeleteFor the uninformed, Zoopla base their values on a drive by linked to the price at which the property last sold, duly adjusted for movement since, but with a total disregard to renovations and improvements. The only real guide is the land registry where actual selling prices can be checked.
Ken, I started of by querying your resounding 'no' but in no way made comments detrimental to your intelligence. You, on the other hand, twice came back at me with snide comments like your "what part of.....don't you understand" nonsense.
ReplyDeleteIf that is your idea of debate or even fire then I will happily get out of your kitchen. Little point in doing otherwise with such negativity on show, but, then, that is Thanet.
Interesting thought, but, if the election of an almost full house of Labour councillors in Ramsgate two years ago was a resounding no, does the full house of UKIP county councillors in Ramsgate now, who support airport expansion, amount to a resounding yes?
ReplyDeleteGood point, and lets hope so!
DeleteThis is the problem with Thanet's local politics. It doesn't matter what rosette they are wearing. As soon as they get in they start banging on about the same old rubbish they were banging on about before irrepsective of what local people think. It's as if they think the Council is just a platform for them to impse their personal views on everybody else. Was night-flights in the UKIP literature which they distributed in the run-up to the election? No it was not. You can't argue that they have a mandate to impose night-flights on us if they didn't include it in their manifesto.
ReplyDeleteNobody had a manadate for equal marriage either, Anon, but they are still trying tp push it through.
DeleteNight flights and Manston are CLEARLY beneficial for Thanet, and thus TDC's DUTY to facilitate them and Manston.
DeleteManston's on the water supply and up for sale by Infratil.
ReplyDeleteNot exactly the future Stansted we were promised. Nor anything much with a few half-empty KLM flights: bust by the Summer as Flybe etc before it?
Mr Latchford needs to answer questions on both the water supply pollution and removal of the monitors under his TDC regime.
But the KLM flights are not half empty, 11:40, and several other airports are also up for sale. That does not necessarily mean they are all doomed to failure.
DeleteAs stated, IF management of Manston were supported by TDC, Manston would thrive, alas, TDC are to ready to pander to nimbys.
DeleteKCC likes investing in Airlines
ReplyDeleteTDC likes investing in Ferry companys
Net loser the council tax payer every time.