Mr Cain’s evidence sought to illustrate how RSP’s proposals for Manston Airport will depart from the unsuccessful business models of previous owners of the airport, by placing an explicit emphasis on the need for diversified income streams, underpinned by a state-of-the-art cargo operation serving dedicated freighters importing and exporting a range of perishable…

In response to a question during the Lothian Shelf planning appeal, George Yerrall, a director of RiverOak Strategic Partners Limited (RSP), confirmed that RSP, a UK registered company, purchased all rights and interests in the Manston project from RiverOak Investment Corp in December 2016.

RiverOak Strategic Partners Limited (RSP) is preparing for the next stage of consultation on proposals to reopen Manston Airport.

In December, the Planning Inspectorate confirmed that Section 53 authorisation (permission to access the Manston Airport site) was granted. On Tuesday 7 February the environmental team working on the Manston Airport DCO visited the site to assess it for the production of the Environmental Statement that will accompany the DCO application. RiverOak would like to thank the airfield security team for their assistance during the visit.

On Monday 19 December the Planning Inspectorate confirmed to Bircham Dyson Bell, lawyers for RiverOak, that Section 53 authorisation (permission to access the Manston Airport site), has now been granted.

A pre-action letter from RiverOak lawyers Bircham Dyson Bell challenging Thanet Council’s recommendation to withhold its report and planned discussion in relation to “Change of Use appeals – Manston Airport” from the press and general public has been rebutted by the council.

RiverOak has made numerous attempts to contact Thanet Council officers on at least four separate topics relating to RiverOak’s plans for Manston Airport and proposed DCO application. All of which have, to date, gone unanswered.

On Friday 28 October, planning consultants RPS issued a letter, on behalf of RiverOak, to Kent County Council highlighting a number of points in relation to KCC’s consultation on their draft Local Transport Plan, particularly on the issue of maximising the use of existing regional airport capacity.

Bircham Dyson Bell, solicitors for RiverOak, have today sent a letter to Madeline Homer, Chief Executive of Thanet Council, highlighting the RiverOak professional team’s concerns both with the methodology and findings of Avia Solutions report and the manner in which it is being considered by the council in connection with the Local Plan process.

RiverOak is working on a comprehensive rebuttal of the Avia Solutions report, which it plans to release early next week, highlighting how basic factual errors and questionable methodology, together with a decision to ignore six respected and publicly available air freight studies, has led to a set of conclusions about Manston Airport that are unsafe for Thanet Council to rely on and therefore render the report unusable.

RiverOak will be continuing to develop its exciting plans for Manston Airport given that Avia Solutions “does not offer any opinion about the reasonableness or otherwise of RiverOak’s commercial plans for the airport” making their report irrelevant.

RiverOak Investments is disappointed by the inaccurate and misleading comments made yesterday (21 September) by a Stone Hill Park spokesperson on our exciting plans for Manston airport project. We felt we had no option but to respond to their deliberate misinterpretation of our approach to community engagement, which is one of the largest and most comprehensive seen in this part of the country.

90% of local people who took part in the recent informal consultation by RiverOak Investments support proposals for reviving Manston Airport as an airfreight hub with complementary passenger and engineering services. A further 8% of respondents said they opposed the plans and 2% are not yet sure.

The Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, has confirmed ongoing support for Manston Airport.

RiverOak Investments has appointed Suzanne Ornsby QC to represent the firm at the forthcoming public inquiry relating to the Lothian Shelf planning appeal, in respect of four separate planning applications which propose a change in the use of four separate buildings at Manston Airport.