ray hutstone- Registered: 1 Apr 2018
- Posts: 2,158
An utter waste of public money. Let's close a few recycling centres to make up for it. Who's in charge at KCC, I wonder?
Captain Haddock
- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,090
Top tip if one wishes to close down recycling centre at Richborough:-
Leak story to local press saying that sources say KCC thinking of closing Deal AND Richborough.
Await uproar in press.
Agree that after consultation with public will keep Deal (which was never at risk of closing) open.
Close Richborough as planned with public thanking council for non closure of Deal.
Repeat with childrens' play parks, public toilets, parking restrictions etc.
Weird Granny Slater and The Gov like this
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
ray hutstone- Registered: 1 Apr 2018
- Posts: 2,158
Captain Haddock wrote:Top tip if one wishes to close down recycling centre at Richborough:-
Leak story to local press saying that sources say KCC thinking of closing Deal AND Richborough.
Await uproar in press.
Agree that after consultation with public will keep Deal (which was never at risk of closing) open.
Close Richborough as planned with public thanking council for non closure of Deal.
Repeat with childrens' play parks, public toilets, parking restrictions etc.
Not quite sure who the 'one' that you refer to is. I'm against closing down any recycling centre unless its usage can be proven to be unsustainable. Otherwise, we end up with the same situation we have with waste water - shit being poured anywhere either (a) to line shareholders' pockets or (b) because we've wasted public funds out of pure dogma.
The Gov likes this
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,090
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,927
Quite correct post 21
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,090
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Button
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,057
'Kent County Council (KCC) member for Thanet Cllr Barry Lewis said the authority must "come clean" to taxpayers about the true price tag. The council is likely to be liable for future costs including CCTV and archaeological works.'
See, now if that were me, I would've dug a hole to search for any buried treasure before I built the station. Just a thought.
(Not my real name.)
Matey
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 11 Oct 2021
- Posts: 178
And they can’t afford Christmas lights……..
Life without a dog is like a salad without lettuce.
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,090
And a decision in the Court of Appeal this week means it's all OFF again, stopping mysterious 'international investors' ploughing £800 million into the site!
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent-business/county-news/airport-bosses-blast-inexplicable-latest-court-ruling-301480/
Meanwhile it's an end to free parking at Tumbleweed Junction
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/thanet/news/now-even-fewer-people-will-use-new-40m-railway-station-300309/
According to recent documents, KCC has contributed more than £7 million so far but the council is committed to contributions of "up to £17.81m".
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/thanet/news/six-months-on-was-kent-s-new-44m-station-worth-the-money-301443/
With a joint enterprise between Network Rail and Kent County Council, what could possibly go wrong?
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,927
And will the new Thanet station pay it's way ??
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,090
Meanwhile at a much more viable airport (36 miles from central London and close to Motorways and North of the Thames) things are not going well.
https://www.ft.com/content/aa179561-47af-49de-93f8-edd2cf1c57d5"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Reginald Barrington
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 17 Dec 2014
- Posts: 3,257
Can you C & P it for the cheapskates among us
Arte et Marte
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,090
On a rain-lashed Thursday afternoon in early February, the departure lounge at Southend Airport is empty. There are just two flights taking off from the terminal 36 miles east of central London that once aspired to break into the top tier of British aviation.
Away from the tarmac, the near-deserted site in Essex is at the centre of an escalating dispute between one of the world’s largest private equity groups and a penny stock infrastructure company.
The $426bn investment firm Carlyle Group is demanding the early repayment of a £125mn loan made to the airport in 2021, when the aviation industry was reeling from international travel restrictions.
Carlyle says it has made multiple attempts to resolve the conflict with the airport’s London-listed owner, Esken, and that the airport has breached the terms of the loan on multiple occasions.
But for Esken chair David Shearer, Carlyle’s motives are clear: to pick up a potentially valuable London airport at a knockdown price.
“We are just at an inflection point when you see the real value of this airport over the next two or three years, and they have concluded ‘Wait a minute, let’s take this airport’,” he said.
Known as Stobart Group until a rebranding in 2021, Esken emerged in 2007 through a reverse takeover deal that allowed Eddie Stobart — the motorway haulage company known for its distinctive red and green trucks, range of toys and even a fan club — entry into the London Stock Exchange.
Among its first deals was the bet on Southend Airport, which it bought in a 2008 agreement worth around £21mn.
London’s major airports maps
Its plans for the site were ambitious: seeking to establish it as an alternative to busier local rivals like City Airport and Stansted, and at first, things progressed smoothly. The runway was extended and a new terminal opened in 2012, ready to profit from a surge in tourists during that year’s London Olympics.
After a decade of ownership, Esken’s thesis had been borne out. Southend was processing more than 2mn passengers a year and was ranked London’s best airport by consumer group Which? six times. A 2019 analyst note described the airport as “the jewel in the crown as London’s fastest-growing airport”.
John Strickland, an aviation consultant who advises regional airports, said Southend had “found its way”.
“They make the pitch as an overspill airport when others are full . . . They really went out aggressively to get the main airline protagonists in, but no sooner had they done that than Covid hit.”
As cash-strapped airlines consolidated around larger hubs, every airline left. Amazon logistics deliveries were left as Southend’s only flights.
But Carlyle saw an opportunity. The buyout fund manager had previous experience investing in airports, though on a slightly different scale to Southend. Carlyle is a significant investor in the development of a new terminal at New York’s JFK Airport.
The firm, founded by billionaires including David Rubenstein, initially approached Esken in April 2020, Shearer said. By August the following year, Carlyle agreed to provide a convertible loan of £125mn to the company giving it a nominal valuation of £400mn.
Things have not gone to plan. Despite commercial flights at the airport restarting in May 2022, Southend’s recovery has been far slower than rivals, which are back close to pre-pandemic passenger numbers.
Just 89,017 passengers travelled through the airport between February 2022 and February 2023. Southend expects to welcome 500,000 people this summer, a far cry from the 2mn in the year before the pandemic.
Southend’s core problem was a struggle to lure airlines back as larger and more established peers were also competing to rebuild their airline networks, Strickland said.
“That made it much harder for an airport that was relying on others being full to the gunnels,” he said.
Last year, Esken decided to cut its losses and put the airport up for sale, following a strategic review that had begun in autumn 2022. But a lack of progress has further frustrated Carlyle.
As relations soured, the private equity firm turned to the courts.
Last September, Carlyle filed a claim in the UK High Court alleging the airport was in breach of the loan agreement. The investment group is now seeking the repayment of nearly £200mn four years early, a figure that includes the original sum lent to Southend as well as the interest due up to maturity.
Under the loan agreement, Carlyle was supposed to approve capital expenditure by the company above a certain level, a person familiar with the terms said. After one outlay, the US investor deemed Esken to be in breach.
“There have been many repeated and continuing defaults of the convertible loan agreement by London Southend Airport since 2022,” Carlyle said. “Carlyle will take all necessary steps to vigorously defend its investment in light of the defaults that have occurred.”
Esken this week announced to the London Stock Exchange that it had investigated Carlyle’s claims and believed there had been no default.
Carlyle maintains it just wants to get its money back. “Carlyle has made numerous proposals to Esken and the airport to secure the airport’s long-term future, including up to £32mn of new funding,” the firm said.
For Esken, the airport remains the last remnant of an empire that once spanned haulage, energy and infrastructure.
The company’s market capitalisation has shrivelled to £4.3mn. Another investment in Carlisle airport has also been battered by the pandemic.
It plans to wind down and return money to shareholders after the airports are sold.
Shearer said if he was able to do that, then he would look back on the chapter with “a degree of pride”.
“My sole objective is to make sure the airport doesn’t close. But if Carlyle decided to adopt a scorched earth policy, who knows what might happen.”
This article has been amended after publication to reflect the fact that the company has an executive chair and another of its board members acts as chief financial officer.
Reginald Barrington likes this
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
victor matcham- Registered: 5 Oct 2021
- Posts: 1,075
Kent needs that airport back open for the public to use, for the ex work that it would bring in, and also goods planes, lets see it open again soon. it would also bring more of the public to look and stay in Kent.
The Gov likes this
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,927
That's the problem Bob
Is Manston really needed, how much will be spent without it even being a reality.
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,090
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,090
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
victor matcham- Registered: 5 Oct 2021
- Posts: 1,075
Lets hope it will go ahead this time We might still get to Scotland from there.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,927
Another costly project that's look to be a white elephant that will probably not happen .
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,090
'There are investors - SO FAR UNAMED - ready to sink £800m into the site with the focus on cargo'.
Are they in the room with us now Sir Roger? Can you hear them? What are they saying? Don't you think it's time for your afternoon nap? ;-)
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/thanet/news/the-story-of-one-of-kent-s-most-controversial-projects-and-306694/victor matcham likes this
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
