Lydd Airport continues to discharge the conditions attached to the permission granted to expand, given in April 2013, writes Louise Barton of the Lydd Airport Action Group (LAAG). There are over 60 conditions in total – many of which are environmental – and there are also commitments under the section 106 agreement (which provides for developers to contribute to community resources).
The airport claims that there are two or three environmental conditions still to be discharged and that work on the runway extension will start in 2016. In addition, the Lydd Airport continues to negotiate with the local landowner to gain access to the land required for expansion.
There is an option over some of the land, while the rest is subject to negotiation. This is a long standing issue, not one that has suddenly arisen. Whether this land could be subject to a compulsory purchase order is unknown. It is difficult to envisage the availability of land preventing development – given the political determination displayed by the government in approving the airport’s expansion in the face of high level expert evidence, which demonstrated that development would be both dangerous and environmentally damaging.
[Editor’s note: However the courts rejected challenges seeking to overturn the government decision.]
Although the reasons above explain the delay in extending the runway, there appears to be no sense of urgency emanating from the airport, other than a desire to put a “shovel in the ground” to secure the planning permission. Lydd Airport must extend the runway within three years of the date of the decision (within 10 years for the terminal) but Charles Buchanan, Chief Executive (CEO) of Lydd Airport and former CEO of Manston, has apparently left and there is no mention, or rumour, of airlines showing interest in the airport.
This does not mean that development will not take place. In LAAG’s view it is a matter of time. Whether it is then a commercial success is a completely separate issue.