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Council will push forward with Manston Airport CPO following UKIP victory

Despite party leader Nigel Farage’s crushing loss in last week’s General Election, UKIP has won control of Thanet Council and the hotly-debated Manston Airport project is top of the agenda.

In Thursday’s council election, UKIP won 33 seats, Conservatives 18, Labour four, and independents one, the party needed just 29 seats for a majority.

But speaking after the council result, Mr Farage claimed: “What you have seen here is people voting with their heart, people voting for what they wanted to vote in.

“What you didn’t see in the General Election was the same thing. What you saw was fear of the SNP.”

The newly-formed council has said it will go ahead with the proposed compulsory purchase of Manston Airport, which closed in May.

Last week, Bdaily revealed plans for the planned £1bn regeneration of Manston Airport, which was set to create thousands of jobs.

Ukip councillor Chris Wells, who is expected to be confirmed as the new leader, said he was keen to move quickly on the controversial project, he commented: “We are committed to carrying forward on our election pledge that we will [have a CPO] and that is what will occur,”

“I do expect it will be legally challenged. Clearly I have got to look at the papers but I do think it is a decision we can move forward with.”

The airport was acquired by current owners and regeneration specialists Trevor Cartner and Chris Musgrave in September. The pair want to develop the site as a mixed-use development for businesses and homes that would not involve aviation.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .