MINUTES OF THE SIXTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF
WHY NOT MANSTON? SATURDAY 10TH NOVEMBER 2018
MANSTON SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUB, DIAGOR LANE, HIGH STREET, MANSTON CT12 5BY.
Present: Angie Sutton (Chairman), Geoffrey Illsley (Vice-Chairman), Lynda Smith (Membership Secretary), Martin Welch (Web Liaison), Nicholas Reed (Press Officer) and Carolyn Illsley (Secretary).
Speakers:
Sir Roger Gale MP (North Thanet), Tony Freudmann (RiverOak Stretagic Partners), Craig Mackinlay MP (South Thanet).
The Chairman began by welcoming everyone to the meeting. She explained the meeting was being held later than usual in the year due to waiting for the submission of the DCO. She reminded those attending that the following day was the hundredth anniversary of the Armistice of WWI and that freedom of speech in this country had been hard won. She expected everyone to respect the views of others even if they disagreed.
Sir Roger Gale.
Sir Roger also spoke about the significance of the WWI Centenary saying that it was a hundred years ago that Manston Airport was created and that post-Brexit we are going to need it more than ever. It is of national significance and no other airport can deliver what Manston can. He said that it always surprised him that so few people spoke of the importance of the aquifer. In a message to those who oppose the return of the airport, he said that they can be assured that the serious consideration given to the DCO will be entirely objective and that all views will count. He said that he only asked two things from RiverOak if the DCO goes in their favour; that the first aircraft to land should be a Spitfire and the second should come from TG Aviation.
Tony Freudmann, RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP).
Tony began by stating the current position on the DCO. It was submitted in April 2018, when the Planning Inspector asked for it to be taken back and resubmitted. This was done as requested and was resubmitted in mid July. On 14th August, the DCO was accepted, recognising Manston as a nationally significant airport. The clock starts ticking with the preliminary examination starting mid-Jan 2019, then after 6 months the Inspectors have 3 months to write their report, 3 months for the Secretary of State to study and, hopefully, completion of DCO mid-Jan 2020. Airfield works expected to commence mid-2020 to cost £3-400 million, with opening mid-2021.
In September, RSP completed the purchase of Jentex, the fuel depot, which had been disappointingly sold off by the Air Ministry in the 50s. RSP now has it as a fuel farm. The Jenkins family, who owned Jentex, will still operate it using local firms.
The plan is to use fixed electrical ground power – not diesel.
Flights will not be scheduled to operate at night. Exceptions are charity relief flights and unavoidably late arriving aircraft, although the latter will be monitored and steps taken if more than a few. Departures will not be allowed out of hours. All aircraft are to be the quietest possible.
It is hoped that at least 4 Ryanair aircraft will operate from mid-2021. KLM/Air France would be welcomed and given fair consideration.
Sue Girdler and TG Aviation will be given precedence to return and commence flight training.
Staff will have to be trained here to CAA standards . Previous employees will be recruited (even if over 60). 5,000 employees will be directly recruited locally by year 5.
There is private investment available for taking freight by rail to London in an hour or less.
Tourism will benefit. For every 80% of tourists going out, 20% will be coming in, generating £200 million spending power.
Craig Mackinlay MP.
Craig said it should be pointed out that Southend and Luton have zero unemployment. He mentioned a town on the edge of Hungary which has a small airport. There is one carrier from Luton and gradually more and more logistics firms are appearing. KLM is showing an interest. Air travel is popular.
At 3.15 the Chairman thanked the speakers profusely and called a 15 minute break.
3.30 AGM
- Apologies – Jan Revell (Treasurer), Tony and Pat Snow, Robert Silk and Betty Renz.
- Approval of Minutes of last AGM on 15th July 2017 – approved.
- Matters Arising – none.
- Chairman’s Report
My report as Chairman you will be happy to hear is short and sweet. We waited with bated breath to see if the DCO would be accepted for examination. We were worried when it was rescinded, delighted when it was resubmitted and have now happily put our submission both as a Group and individuals to the Planning Inspectorate. We stand ready to attend any meetings in the future to support the re-opening of the airport and we fully support RiverOak Strategic Partners. We will happily join forces with any of the local support groups, for example Support Manston Airport Association, Kent Needs Manston Airport and No to Stone Hill Park to ensure that the local feeling is made known. We will happily be there at the opening of the airport and raise a glass to its future success. I would also just like to touch on the fact that we, as a Group, decided only to have a presence online with a webpage. We decided not to have a page on Facebook and the rest as we found it can be a force to divide as well as unite, so if you want any information on what we are doing you can sign up to our newsletter or just read everything on our webpage www.whynotmanston.org
- Treasurer’s Report (as at 6th November 2018) (Presented by Martin Welch).
Liquid Assets Current Liabilities – Nil
Bank £460.81
Cash 40.82
Paypal 0.00
£501.63
REPORT FOR THE PERIOD 6TH APRIL 2017 to 5TH April 2018
INCOME: EXPENDITURE:
Membership Fee Receipts £ 80.00 Events Expenditure £ 60.00 (last year’s AGM)
Donations 30.00 Office Expenditure 179.72
(new website and domain costs)
vents (AGM raffle) 100.00 ____
210.00 239.00
Debit Bal c/f – £ 29.72
Note: Anticipated Expenditure 2018/19
- Future expenses for WNM? Chairman to present the group aspirations at the PINS Committee
in London (date to be notified) - £60 hire charge for the venue of this AGM
- Membership Report.
Number of Members to date 2018 = 102
Number of Supporters to date 2018 = 363
35 members agreed to have newsletters and other information regarding Manston sent to them from time to time.
44 supporters agreed to have newsletters and other information regarding Manston sent to them
51 members did not reply to the GDPR message.
370 supporters did not reply to the GDPR message.
Every one of the Members and Supporters receives up to date news via email.
The GDPR new law came into effect in May, 2018 which affects the way we keep information. We send out emails to our members and supporters and will never pass on your details to a third party. Should you wish to be removed from our mailing lists please do let us know your details by email and we will confirm that your details have been removed.
If you change your email or postal address at any time, we should be most grateful if you would please let us know in order that we can keep our office records fully up to date.
In May of this year each member and supporter who was on our database was contacted with details of the new GDPR. Many responded, indicating that they wished to continue to receive updates via e mail – a few did not and I removed their details from our records.
We do not collect yearly subscriptions, therefore many who joined the group in the early years are having messages returned as undeliverable for one reason or another: which is why we cannot reach as many people as we once did.
If you wish to be included or to remain on our database list please contact me. Although we do have notices on our web site we still make contact via e mail.
- Election of Chairman and Committee en bloc.
Treasurer, Jan Revell, has indicated she would like to step down as Treasurer, but is willing to continue if
no one comes forward. The Chairman asked but no one came forward, so Jan is included in the “en bloc”.
The Committee is: Angie Sutton, Chairman, Geoffrey Illsley, Vice Chairman, Jan Revell , Treasurer, Carolyn Illsley, Secretary, Lynda Smith, Membership, Nicholas Reed, Press Officer, Martin Welch, Web Liaison.
The Chairman announced that everyone was willing to stand again. She asked for a proposer, Beau Webber, and a seconder, Mike Cullen.
The Chairman thanked the Committee and Bo Boelens, our Webmaster, and everyone for coming.
- AOB
Nicholas Reed sent a citation to Wikipaedia to attach to our name. It was returned as “not objective”.
The raffle was drawn.
The AGM raffle raised £78.00 We received £30.00 from new members and £20.00 in donations.
The meeting ended at 4.00.