Sir Roger Gale
Member of Parliament for Herne Bay and Sandwich (including West Thanet)
 

North Thanet`s MP, Sir Roger Gale, has today given a warm welcome to the Department for Transport announcement that the Development Consent Order applied for by the RiverOak Strategic Partnership has been given the go-ahead.

 

“This decision reflects the wishes of the majority of the people of Thanet” says Sir Roger. “I applaud the determination of those who have worked so hard in support of this cause and the commitment of RiverOak who, since the airport was closed, have not wavered in their determination to see Manston re-opened as a freight hub and, subsequently, as a passenger and General Aviation airfield again.

 

I hope that KCC and, particularly, Thanet District Council will now unreservedly throw their weight behind this job-creating project. £300 million of inward investment is a sum that East Kent has never seen before. The capacity to create good, long term employment is colossal. This would be good news for Thanet and good news for the Country at any time but in the middle of an economically devastating pandemic is a shot in the arm for the nation.

 

We know that there is a long haul ahead and that it will be at least a couple of years before we see wheels landing on tarmac again but the starting gun has been fired and now we can get on with the real task of creating a state-of-the-art zero-carbon airport. When it re-opens Manston is planned to be the most environmentally friendly airfield  in the World and that will send a clear signal that a New Britain is very much open for business.  Manston has been at the front line of the Battle for Britain in the past and I look forward to seeing an inaugural Spitfire landing on that famous runway again within my parliamentary lifetime”

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