High Court judge rejects application to legally challenge August 2022…
A DCO (Development Consent Order) for the re-opening of Manston airport, and its use mainly for air cargo was approved by the government in August 2022. Then local residents, through Jenny Dawes, made an application for permission to get a Judicial Review of the decision, on 29th September 2022. A High Court judge has now announced that this legal challenge has been rejected. In her 1,200-page appeal, Jenny said the reopening “Manston Airport will cause irreparable harm to the people, environment and the economy of east Kent”. The airport owners, RiverOak Strategic Partners’ (RSP), have applied for permission to upgrade and reopen the airport primarily as a freight airport, with some passenger services, with a capacity of at least 12,000 air cargo movements per year. The plans were given the go ahead in August despite planners recommending that the development consent order application (DCO) be refused. An earlier DCO for 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 in October 2019, that the DCO should be rejected. .Tweet Legal challenge against Manston Airport plans dismissed 19 JAN, 2023 BY CATHERINE MOORE (New Civil Engineer) A legal challenge against the proposed reopening of Manston Airport has been dismissed. The plans for the airport were given the green light in August last year by parliamentary under secretary of state for transport Karl McCartney. Following this, Ramsgate resident Jenny Dawes applied for a judicial review of the decision but this has now been refused. In her 1,200-page appeal, Dawes said the reopening “Manston Airport will cause irreparable harm to the people, environment and the economy of east Kent”. RiverOak Strategic Partners’ (RSP) planning application is specifically for the upgrade and reopening of the airport primarily as a freight airport, with some passenger services, with a capacity of at least 12,000 air cargo movements per year. A spokesperson for RSP said: “We have just been notified that the application for a judicial review of the government’s decision to grant the DCO has been dismissed. “We now look forward to getting the process of turning Manston into a state of-the-art air freight hub underway and working to support the long-term economic development of East Kent, through the reopening of Manston, that we set out in the application.” The plans were given the go ahead in August despite planners recommending that the development consent order application (DCO) be refused. The Planning Inspectorate had previously concluded that “the Applicant had 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” and highlighted climate change, harm to heritage assets, noise, operational issues and impacts on local road network as other concerns. As such its overall conclusion was that the benefits would not outweigh its impacts and that development consent should not be granted. The planning decision marked the conclusion of a lengthy process, with a decision to grant the scheme’s DCO originally published in July 2020. In February 2021, this was overturned by the High Court and the application was redetermined. https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/legal-challenge-against-manston-airport-plans-dismissed-19-0
