The owners of Manston airport have said council plans to buy the site will fail after its new Ukip leader-elect said he will press ahead an election pledge to do so.

Trevor Cartner, who co-owns the site with business partner Chris Musgrave, said the party’s plans to pursue a compulsory purchase order (CPO) for the site were not guaranteed “with all the political will in the world”.

Chris Wells, the man tipped to lead the UK’s first Ukip-controlled council, said the party was “committed to carrying forward on our election pledge” to CPO the airport, which closed in May last year.

However the runway’s property entrepreneurs, who also own Discovery Park business site in Sandwich, said they are prepared to fight to the end if the council do decide to pursue a CPO, which could go on for “many years”.

Mr Cartner said there was a misconception from the public that a council decision to try and buy the site was all that is necessary.

He said: “When you drill down into what a CPO is about, the council would have to prove their plans for the site – to establish an airport – are socially, economically and environmentally better than our plans. I don’t think that would succeed.

“The airport has been failing since 1989 and nothing we’ve seen suggests it has a better chance of survival than it ever had, whereas our plans are pretty well founded.

“In all the politicking, there seems to be a belief that if the council want to do a CPO then they can do so.

“The council may agree to pursue a CPO but it is not in their gift to make one succeed. I’m hearing people think it is a foregone conclusion but it is far from it.

“Political will doesn’t win a CPO. It is a legal process and there could be all the political will in the world but it doesn’t mean a CPO will work.

“They have got to follow a formal procedure to prove their plans are superior to ours and I just don’t think they are.”

An independent report into Thanet council’s decision against pursuing a CPO earlier this year is due to be published by consultants PwC in the coming weeks.

Thanet’s two Conservative MPs Sir Roger Gale and Craig Mackinlay made it a key part of their election campaign to fight to reopen the airport.

US consortium RiverOak – who made three offers to buy the airport before it closed – maintain they would fund a CPO process with the hope of running the airport as a hub for freight traffic.

“The people of Thanet do not want more business units – there are too many empty ones already in Discovery Park and Thanet generally..." - Ruth Bailey, Supporters of Manston Airport

Last week, Mr Cartner and Mr Musgrave revealed the first images of their masterplan for the 800-acre site, which includes residential and commercial property as well as leisure facilities.

Supporters of Manston Airport events coordinator Ruth Bailey said: “Approximately 85% of local people want an airport – as the result of the recent election showed. It was effectively a referendum on the future of Manston as an airport and the council was returned with 51/56 seats of pro-Manston councillors.

“The people of Thanet do not want more business units – there are too many empty ones already in Discovery Park and Thanet generally.

“They do not want a housing estate – no matter how fancifully dressed up. It will just be a commuter belt.

“They want an airport offering a range of employment and training. The re-opened airport could be a catalyst for regeneration in Thanet.

“The Supporters of Manston Airport are looking forward to working with Chris Wells, leader-elect of Thanet District Council, Sir Roger Gale, Craig MacKinlay and RiverOak to make this CPO happen.”