"tim....." wrote:
"Recliner" wrote in message
...
Basil Jet wrote:
;-(

I guess it's worth much more as land for building.

Only if someone else pays for all the infrastructure improvements to get
people to where there are jobs.

Thanet is a sea of low priced housing and next to zero jobs (and high
deprivation). You aren't going to find many buyers for "estate" houses
at much above "build" costs unless they can find work in the area or have
good access to London.

neither of which are the case here.

People who think that they can build 10,000 houses in this location and
sell them for 150-200K each to unwaged/unemployed/retired, are living in cloud cuckoo land.

Ann Gloag (of Stagecoach fame) must think she can make a profit on the
deal:

"Ann Gloag's decision to close an airport that she bought for £1 last year
and then seek to build up to 1,000 homes on the site has created an unholy
brouhaha that has sucked in everyone from the prime minister down.

The joint founder of the Stagecoach bus company, who is said to be worth
£500m, bought Manston airport in Kent last autumn for the nominal amount
and pledged to deliver "real potential for growth". She promised the local
Tory MP, Sir Roger Gale, that she would commit to the airport for two
years."

From
http://www.theguardian.com/business/...k-kent-airport