The long-running battle over the future of the former Manston airport site looks set to continue well into 2017 after fresh developments in the saga.

Its current owners Stone Hill Park confirmed they would be appealing a decision by Thanet District Council to refuse permission to use buildings on the site for non-aviation purposes.

The outcome is potentially significant for both sides in the tussle.

Although the council has since withdrawn that opposition, the appeal - set for late January - will go ahead anyway and both Stone Hill Park and RiverOak are due to make representations.

If the inspector determines that there can be a change of use for the buildings, it could make any attempt to reopen Manston as an airport more challenging.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, the American investment firm that wants to reopen Manston as an airport has been granted permission to access the site to carry out an environmental analysis.

"Thanet District Council has taken the right decision in withdrawing its objection to the change in use of these buildings..." - Stone Hill Park spokesman Ray Mallon

RiverOak has been told by the planning inspectorate that it can enter the site to collect data needed for its environmental strategy.

That is needed to support its aim to secure a development consent order that would, if granted, enable the site to be safeguarded as an airport - so long as it is deemed to be a nationally significant scheme.

In a statement, RiverOak said: “While a considerable amount of environmental analysis has already been completed, access to the site has always been preferable to provide the necessary level of detail for a development consent order application.”

The company is likely to regard the decision in its favour as a positive one as the secretary of state grants such orders so long as it is assured any scheme is a “distinct project of real substance genuinely requiring entry on to the land".

On the planning appeal next month, Stone Hill Park spokesman Ray Mallon said: “We will be pursuing this appeal to allow non-aviation use of these buildings.

"Thanet District Council has taken the right decision in withdrawing its objection to the change in use of these buildings.”

He added that had the council contested the matter at the hearing in January it would have lost, costing taxpayer money.

The current owners plan to redevelop the site for housing and business, incorporating 2,500 homes.

Thanet council leader Cllr Chris Wells downplayed the access decision.

“I am not surprised by this news, as the early stages of any pre-application DCO process concentrate on the potential capacity of the site, to understand if what is being considered is 'a distinct project of real substance genuinely requiring entry onto the land'.”

The council has effectively withdrawn its support for Manston to be reopened as an airport.

It did so after a report by independenet consultants said the plan was not commercially viable, leading to the council removing the site from its local plan as one appropriate for aviation use.