Representation by The Lister Household
- Date submitted
- 2 October 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
We are Ramsgate residents since 1988, when Manston was operational by the RAF, and during its brief life as a commercial passenger and freight terminal. At that time we were living in Vale Road, under the direct flight path, experiencing noise and vibration levels at first hand, including occasionally at night. Our concerns about the Riveroak proposal, both personal and local, are as follows:
Heritage, housing and local employment - like many others locally, we care about the history of the airfield (one of us is a member of Manston History club). We were sad when the RAF left, and when passenger flights (in small numbers) proved uneconomic. However, we understand the need for extra housing and appreciate the Stone Hill Park housing scheme plans to preserve Manston’s heritage, retaining both museums and providing facilities for memorial flights of vintage aircraft, alongside urgently necessary community facilities like schools and surgeries, to support increased housing.
Ramsgate has been chosen as one of 10 Heritage Action zones, for £400,000 investment in its listed buildings and royal harbour. It has also been chosen to receive nearly £1.5 million lottery funding in the ‘Great Place’ scheme and project to promote arts, culture and heritage, through the ‘Pioneering Place’ project to make East Kent and Ramsgate ‘a better place to live, work and visit’. After suffering badly in the 1990s, Ramsgate’s fortunes have in recent years visibly improved, through increased tourism and the high speed line attracting commuters and retirees to the town (also bringing increase in traffic congestion).
This investment and revival of the town’s fortunes would be seriously adversely affected by the establishment of a commercial freight hub, bringing night-time noise disturbance and air pollution, both potentially affecting health. Existing local jobs dependent on tourism would inevitably be threatened; Riveroak’s projected jobs numbers appear exaggerated.
Pollution - We attended a presentation of Riveroak’s Noise Mitigation Plan on 23 January 2018. This came across as an obfuscatory public relations exercise, information contained in the printed Plan being unclear or irrelevant, e.g., the noise classification list including aircraft unlikely to visit Manston. The suggested double-glazing budget is clearly inadequate for an area including listed and period buildings, and proximity and concentration of housing close to the runway. Giving only annual estimates, the Plan does not state clearly what its projections would practically mean for residents in terms of daily, nightly, or weekly flights.
When Manston was operational, aviation fuel dumped at sea before landing would occasionally drift over the town. No one at the January presentation was able to comment on the concern that with more flights this air pollution risk would increase.
Incoming and outgoing freight necessitates increased heavy goods traffic. As a SE coastal town, Ramsgate already suffers increased carbon pollution from heavy Channel shipping freight traffic.
Proximity of housing to the runway and projected fuel store site is of public concern, as is the overall proposal to increase air freight traffic, given government policy to reduce carbon emissions.