Thanet Green Party press release
Thanet Green Party is frankly astonished at the Minister of Transport’s decision to overrule the Planning Inspectorate’s recommendations and approve the DCO for Manston.This decision runs counter to all the facts considered by the Examining Authority, recent Court rulings on the Government’s climate commitments and the devastating impact of Covid on the aviation sector.
Most tellingly, the Planning Inspectorate concluded that the applicants had not provided sufficient evidence of need for a new cargo facility at Manston, even before the Covid crisis. They also cast doubt on many aspects of the applicants’ submission, including the huge numbers of jobs they predicted.
The decision will inevitably be challenged in the Courts, meaning this sorry saga will drag on well into the future, with inevitable negative effects on us in Thanet.
It will also mean missed opportunities both locally and nationally to #BuildBackBetter post-Covid with sound plans for a sustainable, greener future.
Statement from the Green Party’s national transport spokesperson Caroline Russell
“The government talks about a green recovery, but this just goes to show that they are stuck in the old-fashioned business as usual approach.
“Now is not the time to be giving the go ahead to opening up new airports which will only serve to increase carbon emissions and set us even further away from achieving our climate commitments.
“The local Green Party, as part of a coalition of local groups, has been campaigning long and hard against this proposal and will continue to do so to try and prevent this senseless act which places the economic benefit of a small number of people ahead of the wellbeing of us all.”