Talks are underway to transform a notorious junction in Thanet as the first stage in the £650 million transformation of Manston Airport.

The airport has been pushing ahead with its plans since leaping its final legal challenge, brought by Ramsgate opponent Jenny Dawes, last year

While it continues to finalise its master plan for the airport’s regeneration, two key pieces of infrastructure must be addressed before work can commence.

One is the reworking of the crossroads of the Spitfire Way and Manston Road - a few hundred yards from the airport’s existing entrance.

Originally, the plan was to use land outside the RAF Manston History Museum to form part of a new roundabout to replace the crossroads.

Now RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP) - the firm behind the airport - says it looks likely the Home Office will free up nearby land to prevent the museum losing its forecourt. The Home Office owns the immigration centre opposite the entrance to the museum.

If talks - currently taking place with local highways chiefs at Kent County Council - progress as planned, it is hoped the roundabout will be built in 2026.

RSP says the junction is “long-overdue” an upgrade and forms a requirement of the Development Consent Order it secured from the government - the permission required to green light its ambitious plans to be re-born as a major cargo hub.

In addition to the road improvements, talks are underway about the relocation of a tower which forms part of the RAF’s UK-wide radio navigation system.

The High-Resolution Direction Finder, as it is known, is used to locate aircraft and emergency beacons. Sited near the main runway, under the terms of the DCO a decommissioning and removal programme must be agreed with the Ministry of Defence before any development can start.

It is not one of the landmark buildings on the site - but a sophisticated antenna which sits within a safe-guarding area.

RSP says “constructive discussions” are already taking place, with hopes of securing a long-term solution by the end of 2026.

Tony Freudmann, director of RSP, said: “Both of these projects are important enabling works, required under the terms of the granting of the DCO, that need to be completed before the main construction work can get underway.

“They are illustrative of the myriad of complex, interconnected and often lengthy projects that need to take place to enable Manston to move towards reopening.”

If all goes to plan, it hopes construction work on the airport - which will see all existing buildings demolished - will begin early in 2027 and complete a year later.

At which point, recruitment will begin for staffing the cargo hub and the airport officially opening later that year.

A former RAF base, the MoD announced it was pulling out of the site in 1999 when it became an airport delivering commercial and limited cargo flights.

After struggling to make the sums add up, it was closed in 2014 before its new plans were unveiled.