Popular Flying Association (PFA)
Medway Council has tried to avoid consulting nearby residents about Council plans for the Rochester Airport site, which it owns and has leased to GEC-Marconi for many years. The Council appears to have its own "secret agenda" concerning the site's future.
The history of and background to this saga is here.
We have started putting out occasional newsletters (called The R A G E Page) and the first of these is here.
Recently, owing to the huge amount of pressure local residents have applied to Medway Council, the lease has been re-assigned to an organisation that intends to keep flying going at the airport: this is Rochester Airport PLC.
This is only a four-year lease, and in a recent meeting between Council officials and the local Residents Association (DERAC) it became clear that the Council could simply decide to pick up then where they have now been compelled to leave off. We believe that is their intention, hoping that the lease's re-assignment will cool matters down so that they can quietly return to their original plan in the year 2004.
R A G E will not let that happen by default, and we are continuing our programme of promoting awareness and applying pressure where needed, helped by some very good media coverage of the issue. We hope that this will be one of those situations where the public can -- just for a change -- finally succeed against concerted officialdom operating against the public interest.
John Ward, former Secretary of R A G E
If you would like to make an input to the ongoing debate, please pass your comments to the Secretary using any of the contact methods given below. However please be aware that telephone contact might necessitate your leaving a message on an answering machine.
Secretarial contact details:
Mr J Sherwood
R A G E
35 Holland Road
Davis Estate
Chatham
Kent ME5 9TW
Phone: Medway (01634) 305 184
Email: jonsherwood@blueyonder.co.uk
AOPA Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
B-21 Bridgewood-21 Group
BAPC British Aviation Preservation Council
CPRE Council for the Preservation of Rural England, Kent Branch
DERAC Davis Estate Residents Association Chatham
GAAC General Aviation Awareness Council
MAPS Medway Aircraft Preservation Society
PFA Popular Flying Association, Mid Kent Strut
SBCS Short Brothers Commemoration Society
Popular Flying Association (PFA)
Rochester Airport PLC's Web Site
Davis Estate Residents Association (DERAC)