Bosses at Manston Airport say they hope to harness sophisticated state-of-the-art drones and hydrogen-powered barges to help ferry goods from the site to their final destination.

The Thanet airport is aiming to re-open as a cargo hub in 2026 after clearing its latest legal hurdle.

And it believes a combination of other transport methods can cut down the number of expected lorry movements transporting goods arriving by air to destinations around the South East.

Among them will be using the latest drone technology capable of taking weights of up to 500kg. It believes by using them they can swiftly get the likes of pharmaceuticals and motor-parts to where they are needed.

Explains Tony Freudmann, director at RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP), the company spearheading the airport's revival and which owns the site: "We're very keen to use other forms of transport.

"We're talking mainly about cargo - so we have a number of options now which didn't exist five years ago.

"The biggest one is taking cargo down to the port at Ramsgate and putting it on hydrogen-powered barges and taking them up the Thames. The Thames Estuary Commission is very enthusiastic about it - it's a green solution and it will take traffic off the roads.

"The other thing we're keen to do is to use Ramsgate station to put cargo onto freight trains, leaving the station, probably late at night. From there you can reach Willesden in north west London or Barking in east London in less than an hour. and there are not many airports who have those options. We're keen these options are all explored.

"Plus, what's emerging quite rapidly, is the use of drones. Modern drones have a longer range and a bigger payload. Air freight, by definition, is high value and just-in-time, so for things like emergency deliveries of motor-parts or pharmaceuticals, we think that drones could be the answer and they would, of course, take-off from Manston and be in the air until their destination. It's really exciting."

Mr Freudmann also said the airport intends to build a new access road to allow traffic to access it from the Thanet Way without having to negotiate the currently difficult junction of Spitfire Way and the Manston Road.

The airport, closed since 2014, has been at the centre of a long-running tug-of-war over its future.

Once owned by property developers who intended to build thousands of homes on the site, it is now back in the ownership of RSP which has secured a Development Consent Order from the Department for Transport to allow it to reopen as an airport.

A judicial review of the decision - which challenged the process the decision was reached by the DfT - was rejected earlier this month by a High Court judge.

However, the opponent to the re-opening plans who brought the case, Jenny Dawes from Ramsgate, has requested her right to a personal hearing with a judge in the planning court. The Secretary of State will be represented, as will RSP. It is an opportunity for the applicant to persuade the judge the reasons given in the recent judgement were wrong.

The decision is expected within days of the hearing.