A long-running legal tussle over plans to re-open Manston Airport will resume tomorrow at a court hearing brought by opponents of the scheme.

A judge granted a judicial review of plans to turn the Thanet site into an air freight hub just months after it looked like it was set to get up-and-running again after an earlier bid by dissenters was rejected.

The application was initially dismissed by Mr Justice Lane in January 2023, before being partially allowed, on review by Mrs Justice Lieven in March.

While many of the grounds on which the appeal – in the name of Ramsgate resident Jenny Dawes – was based were thrown out, the court will examine if there is a case on the remaining sticking points.

These focus on whether the need for a freight hub was adequately assessed and whether due consideration was given to whether Manston might have an impact on the government’s ability to meet its future carbon carbon emissions targets by 2050.

The government granted permission for the project last year, after the High Court ordered the Department for Transport to reconsider its decision to give the go-ahead for the works in 2021.

A Judicial Review brought by opponents of the controversial scheme could, if successful, place a question mark over the site owners’ plans or at least delay it.

At an appeal hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in March, judge Mrs Justice Lieven granted the review on three points, and asked for one on climate change to be addressed in writing within a week.

Tony Freudmann, the director of RiverOak, which owns the site, said the review could delay plans to get flights taking off in 2026.

The airport has been closed since 2014 and the bulk of its fixtures and fittings sold at auction in a fire-sale by former owner Ann Gloag

Opponents of the idea of a freight cargo hub insist it is not the right place and would not be commercially viable.

They have suggested that there would have to be some night flights if it was to be commercially successful.