Plans to develop Lydd Airport in Kent, into a modern regional airport were given the green light by the UK Government last week after ministers agreed with a Planning Inspector’s recommendation to grant approval for a multi-million-pound development. The facility, also known as London Ashford Airport now has authority to extend its runway to handle larger capacity aircraft up to Airbus A320 Family and Boeing 737 types and serve up to 500,000 passengers per year.
Managers at the airport have vowed to waste no time in pressing ahead with upgrading the site on Romney Marsh. Their £25 million investment plans include the construction of a 294m runway extension plus a 150m starter extension, and a new terminal building capable of handling up to 500,000 passengers a year. However, the approvals from Eric Pickles, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, and Patrick McLoughlin, the Transport Secretary remain subject to a potential judicial review in the High Court which is currently being considered by opponents to the scheme.
Lydd mainly handles private traffic ranging from executive jets, helicopters, to general aviation aircraft and ad hoc cargo charters. It is one of three airports in this region of South East England serving the county of Kent on the periphery of London. The facility has been owned by a Saudi businessman, Sheikh Fahad al-Athel, since 2001 and plans for the expansion projects were first approved by Shepway District Council in 2010 but was subsequently reviewed by central government of its national importance to airport capacity strategy in the London and South East area.
The airport’s owners have already spent £35 million over the past decade in modernising the airport, which has operated on the Dungeness Peninsula since 1954 and was once one of the busiest airports in the UK – in 1958 it handled 223,000 passengers, which was 37,000 more than Gatwick.
Lydd Airport Executive Manager Hani Mutlaq said the Government’s decision was “a victory for common sense and for the people of Romney Marsh” and promised that his management team would move ahead as quickly as possible with delivering an ambitious project which will create jobs, boost tourism and revitalise a long-standing economic blackspot in the region.
“We submitted our planning applications in December 2006 and it has been a long road to get to where we are today. We put forward a compelling case for allowing the controlled development of the airport, and first the local planning authority and now the Government has agreed with the overwhelming body of evidence in front of them. The right choice has been made for the future of our community,” said Mutlaq.
The airport will now seek an early meeting with Shepway District Council planners to begin the process of ensuring that the pre-commencement conditions are discharged, including environmental, noise, traffic and other conditions already agreed as part of the approval. “Once all these have been addressed, we hope to begin the runway construction work as soon as possible,” added Mutlaq.
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