Kent airport go ahead

Lydd Airport, sometimes known as Ashford Airport, has been given permission to extend its runway to serve Airbus A320 series and Boeing 737 types.  For the future up to 500,000 passengers per year can be accommodated.

The plan was approved last week by Eric Pickles, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, and Patrick McLoughlin, the Transport Secretary, following a protracted dispute over an application first submitted in 2006. Those opposed to the project now have six weeks to consider a judicial review in the High Court.

Lydd is one of three air transport licensed airports in Kent, and rather like Manston is about 75 miles from central London.  The third airport is Biggin Hill, technically in the London Borough of Bromley and used exclusively by executive jets.

The airfield has been owned by a Saudi businessman, Sheikh Fahad al-Athel, since 2001.  Lydd opened in 1956 and at the height of its success Silver City airways, Dan-Air and other firms were carrying 250,000 people a year. Shepway District Council voted in favour of the expansion plan in 2010 but the scheme was called in by central government for assessment because of its national importance. www.lydd-airport.co.uk

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