Representation by John PG Hall
- Date submitted
- 8 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I have lived in Ramsgate for over four years and am semi retired. I moved from the Richmond upon Thames area and am very aware of the effect the noise of landing planes can have on everyday life. People have to stop talking until the planes have gone away. When I bought the house neighbours told me how lucky I was to arrive just as the airport closed since the noise of the planes had been terrible in our area, and of course the number of flights was much lower then than that proposed by RSP.
I use the A299/M2 and the A256 roads a lot and often find there are holdups and delays, especially when there is a lot of traffic. The RSP application suggests that there will be many fuel trucks coming every day to fuel the planes, and of course very many lorries taking and bringing cargo from the flights, which will make the traffic for the other road users very much worse.The road infrastructure in Thanet is barely able to cope with the existing usage, and with many more houses being built over the next few years this can only get worse.
Thanet has a very lively tourist trade, which is expanding year on year. Ramsgate and Herne Bay are directly on the flight paths RSP has proposed and the noise of many planes taking off and landing throughout the day and night can only harm this trade.
The close proximity of an airport to residential areas has been shown to have a negative effect on the health and educational progress of children. When an airport was moved in Munich the health and exam results of the children in the old airport area improved and the results in the new area got worse. Studies have shown this was down to high noise exposure being associated with poorer long-term memory and reading comprehension in children aged 10 years. There are three schools in Ramsgate directly under the flight paths, and these are located less than 4km from the runway.