I’m writing as a resident of Ramsgate who’s recently received an email from a company currently calling itself ‘RSP’ informing me that they are planning yet another inadequate round of consultations pertaining to their attempted land grab of some 800 acres of brownfield land formerly known as Manston Airport. My question for you is thus: seeing as every independent report into the viability of an airport at Manston has come to the same conclusion, that it simply isn’t viable, it seems ridiculous that RSP can continue to blight an entire district indefinitely. So can RSP continue indefinitely in their pre-application? It would substantial flaw in the planning process to allow a company with no evidence of any funds whatsoever to create such uncertainty to an entire district based upon a totally unviable business plan with no recourse for their actions or time limit. Please can you let me know if this is case.

The PA2008 process is frontloaded, meaning the onus is on applicants to prepare their applications fully before they are submitted to the Planning Inspectorate. On that basis, provided that the statutory procedures set out in the PA2008 are satisfied there is no limit placed on the number of Pre-application consultation exercises a particular applicant may choose to undertake, and it is not unprecedented or unusual for an applicant to carry more than one statutory consultation exercise.
In respect of funding, an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) that would authorise the Compulsory Acquisition (CA) of land/ rights must be accompanied by a Funding Statement which should demonstrate that adequate funding is likely to be available to enable the CA within the statutory period following the DCO being made. Funding Statements are published to the Planning Inspectorate’s website alongside the rest of the application documentation, and their content is routinely examined by appointed Examining Authorities.