Representation by Mary Sharrock
- Date submitted
- 7 October 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I have been a Ramsgate resident for well over 30 years. Most of them living under the flight path of planes from Manston. I write as a concerned community spirited resident, mother, teacher and Youth worker.
My concerns include these points: -
1. I am extremely concerned that the public consultation document was 6000 pages shorter than the DCO application. Many Ramsgate residents will be unaware of the changes within the two documents. I would like to relate specially to Air traffic movements. RSP have increased the number of potential ATMs drastically compared to the original consultation. (with the possibility of up to 80,000 flights) The increased number of ATMs will have a massive impact on aircraft noise pollution levels compared with those pre-2014, traffic to and from the airport and the associated transport links and infrastructure, air pollution, impacts on learning and education, sleep interruptions and general health impacts.
2. Noise pollution and disruption during the school working day. As a teacher that worked in two local schools under the flight path I know first-hand the disruption this causes within the classroom. With noise levels being so loud that children are unable to zone the noise out and finding it impossible to listen to instructions. Teachers found times when they would have to stop in their tracks waiting for the noise levels to reduce before they could carry on teaching. The plan appears to propose excessively more planes than previously was the case and much noisier cargo planes than the passenger planes of pre-2014.
SA Stansfeld’s scholarly study 2000/2003 had very conclusive results where findings identified associations between exposure to chronic aircraft noise and impairment of reading comprehension and recognition memory. Noise, an environmental pollutant, is a public-health issue because it leads to annoyance, reduces environmental quality and sleep disturbance. Other findings indicated that a chronic environmental stressor—aircraft noise—could impair cognitive development in children, specifically reading comprehension and that Schools exposed to high levels of aircraft noise are not healthy educational environments.
3. Air pollution will increase considerably with an influx of cargo planes and all the lorries needed to transport the loads around the country and further afield.
4. The impact on tourism in Ramsgate. We have enjoyed increased tourism in recent years. Holiday makers enjoy the Royal Harbour, the peace and tranquillity of the seaside town and the lower levels of pollution in our Kentish garden. With a non-stop noisy cargo hub this will go. Ramsgate will lose the appeal it has been building up over the last 4 years.
5. The impact of night flights in particular on Health implications including sleep disturbance and deprivation, noise pollution, the realistic volume and frequency of projected night flights being left in limbo. Sleep disturbance has been proven to have an impact on academic achievement and children’s well-being.
6. Wider Environmental impacts on local wild life and biodiversity, carbon footprints and Climate Change
7. On a personal note I have lived in the same single glazed, grade II listed house for 27 years. I remember vividly the shake and rattle of the window panes and the vibration throughout my home caused by the low-level flights over our house in Plains of Waterloo. I had no choice then but I would find it very hard to have that inconvenience increased to levels that aren’t even considered acceptable for those living under the flight path at Gatwick or Heathrow. From what I read they are proposing far more cargo night flights than are currently allowed at Heathrow.