Kent International Airport's Master Plan - Manston Airport

Kent International Airport – Manston
Master Plan
2009. The new service, dubbed High Speed
1 (HS1) will utilise track improvements
and new fast trains to significantly reduce
journey times. The HS1 project is primarily
targeted at reducing the journey times
on the London to Dover route and will
benefit services to Ramsgate with track
upgrades on the London to Ashford
section of the journey. The high speed
trains will be maintained overnight at the
Ramsgate depot, and this has led to further
improvements to Ramsgate services and
additional track upgrades on the Ashford to
Ramsgate section of track.
The high speed services will reduce journey
times by a third, with the Ramsgate to
London trip length reduced from an average
of 128 minutes to 75 minutes. This service
will be a huge step forward and will be
significant for the long term development of
passenger services from our airport. There
is further potential for service improvement
on the Ashford – Ramsgate section of track
and in time, we expect that the journey from
our airport into London by train will be made
in less than an hour.
Cycle Access
Our airport is not currently served by
dedicated cycle routes and therefore cyclists
wishing to access the airport do so using the
local highway network. However, the Thanet
Cycling Plan identifies a series of proposals
to provide cycle links within Thanet that
would link our airport with neighbouring
settlements.
Our Contribution to
the Economy
With some 1.4 million inhabitants, Kent is
the UK’s most populous county. It is also a
prosperous area with a workforce of 780,000
and an unemployment rate of 2% [14] . Its
economic success can be attributed to its
ability to attract world class companies
and also its thriving tourism industry. Kent
also has significantly lower office rental
costs than London. However, despite
these positive attributes, only four of Kent’s
districts are amongst the top 25% in the
UK for average earnings and unfortunately
pockets of deprivation do exist [15] . A diverse
range of existing businesses provide the
county with external economies of scale,
which are capable of supporting future
business growth.
Policy EKA6 of the South East Plan
identifies that local planning authorities
should give priority to the completion of
major employment sites at locations within
Kent, including Thanet and that, while
major new employment locations are not
currently needed within Thanet, any major
investment proposals that come forward
should not be ruled out (paragraph 18.38).
Our airport has the potential to function as a
gateway and catalyst for economic growth,
with manufacturing, transport, aviation and
marine engineering identified as key sectors
for inward investment during the plan period.
Thanet has an unemployment rate of 3.6% [16] ,
which compares poorly with the overall Kent
average. In addition 12% of Thanet’s Super
36
14 Locate in Kent, www.locateinkent.com
15 Former Kent and Medway Structure Plan, adopted July 2006.
16 Thanet Economic Growth and Regeneration Strategy,
Thanet District Council.