Plans to include a heritage runway among up to 4,000 homes may be winning round some who want aviation to stay at the former Manston airport.

Ian Scott nodded approvingly as he looked at the new plans for the former Manston airport.

“I think it’s a good use of the land because it’s brownfield that’s going to be used rather than neglected,” said Mr Scott, who lives in Nethercourt, Ramsgate.

He remembers as a child seeing planes landing at the airport and the huge noise they made.

That came to an end in 2014, when the site was closed having lost £100 million during 16 years of private ownership, according to a report by Kent County Council in 2015.

The new owners, North East entrepreneurs Trevor Cartner and Chris Musgrave plus Stagecoach founder Ann Gloag, aim to submit a new planning application next year for homes, manufacturing space, schools, a country park and an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Mr Scott said: “If these houses aren’t built here they will have to go somewhere else and where would they put them?

“If you have a lot of small developments you don’t get the infrastructure with it. Here they are talking about a country park and a couple of schools.”

The bosses of Stone Hill Park met with the public over two days last week as they revealed revised proposals, which will supercede an outline planning application submitted in May last year.

Plans for 2,500 homes have been increased to about 4,000 amid rising government housing targets, while space for advanced manufacturing businesses remains.

The most striking difference is keeping 1,199m of the original runway as part of a Spitfire Quarter, which will see vintage airplanes continue to land at the airport in a private capacity.

The site’s owners are also looking at the possibility of hosting an airshow.

The move appears to have softened the harsh stance of some opposition groups who want the site to reopen as an airport.

Supporters of Manston Airport spokesman Sophie Jopson said: “These new outline plans do not meet our full aspirations of a viable airport.

“They do, however, protect at least part of the runway and appear keen to enhance the heritage aspect of the airport.

“Though we are by no means settling for what is currently outlined, it could open up opportunities to aviation investors to expand these current proposals beyond just heritage flights.”

Stone Hill Park’s plans come with an asterisk as it continues to make legal representations to the Planning Inspectorate against an application expected from RiverOak Strategic Partners.

The group wants to take control of the site and reopen it as an air cargo hub, which it says will handle more than 10,000 freight flights a year by the sixth year of reopening.

Paul Barber, an advisor to Stone Hill Park, said: “One of the benefits of the delay to the application is we have carried on listening to what people have been saying.

“People have come to us with good suggestions about how to make the plans better and we thought we could tweak them.

“These plans are a better version of what was submitted to Thanet District Council last year.

“It’s not radically different but the heritage part is the biggest difference.”

“Though we are by no means settling for what is currently outlined, it could open up opportunities to aviation investors to expand these current proposals beyond just heritage flights...” - Sophie Jopson, Supporters of Manston Airport

The proposals add up to a £500 million investment over the 15 to 20 years it will take to complete construction.

Ray Mallon, spokesman for Stone Hill Park, said: “Thanet really needs private sector investment and it’s been starved of investment for a very long period of time.”

He added that the site’s owners do not expect to make any money from the heritage aviation aspect of their plans.

He said: “Trevor Cartner and Chris Musgrave are very much aware of the heritage of this site.

“When we went back out to further consultation it was clear when we spoke to the public that some want a fully fledged airport and some are looking for something much lighter to do with the heritage of the site.

“We’ve come up with a Spitfire Quarter and taken into consideration what the public are saying.

“There’s no money to be made where the aviation element is concerned.

"Trevor Cartner and Chris Musgrave feel it’s very important that we do something in relation to the heritage and the public are stating that so we feel like we should advance it.”

Hundreds of people attended the public consultation events in Thanet on November 20 and 21.

Matt Demedts, who lives in Dover, said: “The heritage runway is a good concept. The housing element is most interesting because people are struggling to get on the housing ladder.

"To get rid of the airport would be a lost opportunity for generations to come..." - John Bates

"Will this additional housing be provided at an affordable level for young people?”

John Bates, who lives in Minster, said: “They are pretty drawings better off in an art exhibition.

"Some of the aspects in there do not fit in with local needs whatsoever.

“Their traffic plans could create a bottleneck.

"To get rid of the airport would be a lost opportunity for generations to come.”

Kerry Fuller, who lives in Birchington, said: “I feel positive. I think it will do good for the area, especially with a 50m swimming pool. It will be a nice thing for kids to have on their doorstep.

“This will open up a lot of job opportunities and housing, which is a big problem wherever you go.”

However, significant opposition to the Stone Hill Park plans remains.

Last month, RiverOak Strategic Partners made a presentation to Kent County Council outlining why it believes it can reopen the airport as an air cargo hub.

"I think it will do good for the area, especially with a 50m swimming pool..." - Kerry Fuller

The company believes it could create up to 4,200 directly employed jobs within 20 years and support 26,000 jobs in the wider economy.

RiverOak planning consultant Angela Schembri spoke of “significant concerns” about the council’s Local Plan involving at least 2,500 homes on the site.

However, Stone Hill Park representative Louise Congdon, a consultant with York Aviation, said: “It is simply not credible to say that within a year, Manston would become the third largest freight hub.”

Lawyers for Stone Hill Park have suggested RSP’s proposals are unlawful because they do not meet the technical requirements needed to take control of the site with a development consent order – an application direct to ministers for compulsory purchase powers.

"For Stone Hill Park to offer a small landing strip when the people of Thanet want their long runway back open for commercial flights, and the jobs they bring, is to completely miss the point..." - Dr Beau Webber, Save Manston Airport

Dr Beau Webber, chairman of the Save Manston Airport association, said: “For Stone Hill Park to offer a small landing strip when the people of Thanet want their long runway back open for commercial flights, and the jobs they bring, is to completely miss the point.

“The people of Thanet are also sick of wasting time and money driving to Heathrow and Gatwick, when we have what could be a very excellent commercial airport 10 minutes drive away.

“RiverOak will be creating thousands of jobs in Thanet, and tens of thousands in Kent and the wider area.”

RiverOak revealed last month it has delayed its development consent order until next year.