Lydd Airport may have to compulsorily purchase additional land for its runway extension.

A council meeting heard it does not have enough land on either side of the planned extension and needs to buy it.

And New Romney Mayor Patricia Rolfe expressed surprise that this wasn’t dealt with before.

The development gained planning permission two years ago and the battle for that dragged on for the previous seven years, including a lengthy public inquiry.

Cllr Rolfe said: “You would think they knew there was not enough land on either side. How did they not see it?”

Cllr Anthony Rodriguez, a town council representative on the Lydd Airport Consultative Committee, said: “There is an obstacle, the airport needs a bit more land on either side of the runway.

“They are in negotiations with the owners but if they don’t want to sell it could go to compulsory purchase.”

He believes that 30 acres of land are needed.

Cllr Rodriguez, speaking at a town council meeting was reporting back from the Lydd Airport Consultative Committee meeting on November 26, which he had attended with colleagues Peter Coe and Denis Lawton.

London Ashford Airport, as it is formally called, plans to build a 294-metre runway extension plus a 150-metre started area and a new terminal building.

Executive manager Hani Mutlaq at that same LACC meeting, announced planning conditions had now been met and work on the extension was due to start next spring.

Cllr Rodriguez said the plan was to have the terminal building by 2017 there would be no night flights between 11pm and 7am.

He said; “If everything goes well we could see an increase of 150 to 200 jobs.

“When those jobs become available they will be advertised on the airport website.”

Cllr Rodriguez said a number of those posts would require specialist skills, so may not be necessarily available to local people.

But he got the impression that the airport would look to locals for other work.

He added other developments such as the Coastguard search and rescue service from the airport led to 30 more people moving into the area and buying property.

Cllr Coe added the operators Bristow Helicopters Ltd were currently taking half the new 29m by 73m £700,000 hangar, which opened in September.

But the company was hoping to eventually have its own there.

A spokesman for Lydd Airport said after the meeting: “All runway extension lands are either owned by the airport or been optioned.

“The airport is exercising its legal rights to buy back the land.”