An Estuary Airport

Why Not Manston? applauds the Committee for rejecting the idea of a brand new Estuary airport in the Thames. But we are appalled by the suggestion that Heathrow should be expanded. It is already massively affected by air and sound pollution, blighting what should be attractive suburbs like Richmond, Barnes, and even Windsor. Further expansion will be immensely expensive and increase local congestion, particularly on the M25, west of London.

We do not know why the Committee refused to hear evidence from our group Why Not Manston? Manston Airport is already there in East Kent. It has very few passenger flights a day, run by KLM, when it could easily have ten times as many. There would be no difficulty in doubling its size or adding a second runway. Unlike any other airport in Kent, there are no environmental objections to expanding Manston, and the locals would be delighted to see services increase. It will shortly be within an hour’s travel of central London. The Heathrow area is already thriving economically: Kent would welcome the massive investment that enlarging Manston would bring.

Manston is in Thanet, and in the recent local elections UKIP took seven of the eight Council seats in Thanet: the highest percentage swing in Kent. It cannot just be coincidence that UKIP is the only national political party which has expansion of Manston as one of its principal policies. The people have spoken: they rightly see expanding Manston as a major part of the answer to airport overcrowding in the SE.