Mayor of London Boris Johnson has pledged to visit Manston after conceding that expanding the Kent terminal may be a better option than an estuary airport.

Mr Johnson's controversial proposal for an airport in the Thames off the Kent coast has upset Tory led Kent County Council as well as environmental campaigners

KCC leader Cllr Carter believes Kent International Airport is a better solution to the problems of overcrowding at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

Cllr Carter and Mr Johnson have spoken at length about the issue.

But speaking exclusively to the KM Group at the MIPIM property show in Cannes, South of France, Mr Johnson said that Cllr Carter "may well be right".

"I am certainly not ruling it out," he said.

"He and I certainly agree that we need to look at a new solution. We are having good discussions with Paul and Kent about it.

Mr Johnson said he would be interested in visiting Manston one day."

He added: "The key thing is to stop the Government from going ahead with what I think is a thoroughly mistaken plan to have a third runway at Heathrow."

But Mr Johnson suggested he still likes the estuary idea.

"There are plenty of advantages to it but we are not at the stage yet where we can say it's a firm plan," he said.