THANET council could be powerless to stop night flights regardless of residents' views, it was revealed this week.

Legal advice sought by the council on the application for limited flights between 11pm and 7am says the authority will not be able to make any binding decision on the operator Infratil's plans, as it is merely a "consultee".

Thanet council leader Clive Hart signed a decision notice on Wednesday, saying a 28-day public consultation for Thanet residents will now be held in-house.

Mr Hart said he could not justify spending £50,000 on a bigger consultation if the council was not in a position to make a decision on the proposals for an average of eight flights a night.

He said: "Taking a new approach to our consultation is absolutely essential, given this advice.

"We're committed to listening to our residents, and will still provide the opportunity for people to comment on the proposals before we draft our response from the council as well as people being able to provide their views directly to the airport.

"We've promised that we will seek residents' views, and we're standing by this commitment, but on a more appropriate scale. This issue needs to be drawn to a conclusion for the sake of the community, the council and the airport."

The decision is a response to a report by Parson Brinckerhoff that the council commissioned to examine to Infratil's proposed changes to night-flying policy.

The council says the changes would only require planning permission in the future if new night flights constitute an "intensification or change of use" for the airport.

The council is currently seeking further legal advice.

Thanet South MP Laura Sandys whose constituency includes Ramsgate, the town most affected by noise from flights, said the statement from Mr Hart both "waters down" the public consultation and also throws doubt on whether the policy will ever come in front of the planning committee.

Mrs Sandys, who is opposed to night flights, said: "Both of these issues are fundamental to ensuring that the public voice is appropriately heard, and that local democracy is upheld."

She added that there seemed to be confusion over whether this night flight policy constituted an intensification of use or not.

Mrs Sandys said: "Does this mean that night flying can proceed without scrutiny from the planning committee? If this is the case it represents yet another loophole in the original Section 106 agreement that Labour signed when it was last running the council."

Manston airport chief executive Charles Buchanan recognised the council was unable to make any binding decision on the airport, but said: "We are following the Section 106 agreement.

"It is our intention to develop the airport in co-operation with the local authority and our neighbours. It is to nobody's advantage if there are disagreement between the airport and the planning authority."