Representation by Amanda Woolcott
- Date submitted
- 6 October 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I’m writing as a mum,grandmother,Ramsgate resident, and small business owner, living/working in Ramsgate.I’m strongly opposed to the DCO. 1)Education-I’m concerned of how this would affect my youngest child and grandchildren.There are at least 7 schools named in RSP’s application which in their words if this succeeds state ,”significant adverse effects have been identified.” This will have an impact on children’s learning,a study carried out in Germany published in 2002,concerning children living and attending school near an airport,showed that long term memory,reading and speech perception had been impaired. On attending a meeting concerning this application at one of the listed schools that would be affected,[Redacted],Executive headteacher of coastal academies trust said this. “It breaks my heart to think of those children if their sleep gets disturbed. I guarantee that will effect their education. And if it effects their education it will effect their life choices. I shudder to think what will happen to this school in the flight path with a listed building and single pane windows.” I totally agree.We live in a very deprived area,we don’t need children struggling and lagging behind in their education we need them to be able to reach their full potential at school. 2) Night flights- although it’s been denied night flights will be needed,RSP in their application suggest otherwise and also seem to wish to have noisier flights than those allowed at Heathrow and Gatwick.This means our children be subjected to continual aircraft noise throughout the day but also at night,they will have disturbed sleep and this will effect their performance at school and their general health, anyone living under the flight path will be affected,studies show that even if you don’t wake your health can be affected.The Greiser study published in 2010 showed a significant risk of coronary artery diseases,strokes and cancer due to aircraft noise.Having been subjected to these night flights as a family we were affected,We couldn’t sleep through them and we never got used to them either. 3) Tourism- much of the employment in this town relies on tourism,since the closure of the airport businesses around the harbour and along the seafront have flourished and we have enjoyed them.we love our beaches,but can’t imagine people choosing to holiday here with planes thundering overhead frequently,that’s not conducive to a relaxing holiday.These businesses will be adversely affected if a cargo hub opens,no one is going to want to frequent establishments with planes flying over frequently interrupting conversation and enjoyment,we know as we suffered living under the airport when it was operational,sometimes planes overhead every 12 minutes,directly above our roof and there was no holding a conversation or concentrating on anything when they flew over.We need the revenue tourism brings into the town. We do not want a cargo hub airport,many attempts have been made to run a successful airport on that sight,all have failed,the current owners SHP have plans for much needed houses,industry and open green spaces,this would be a more effective use of the site benefitting the area.