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Representation by Rebecca Hyman

Date submitted
8 October 2018
Submitted by
Members of the public/businesses

I strongly object to the Manston DCO application. As a mother to two young children, as a health professional and as a resident of Ramsgate I am deeply troubled by the RSP proposal. My main concerns are as follows:

  1. No caps on flight numbers and the possibility of night flights. The applicant states that the runway and 19 stands they will create will be able to handle 83,000 freight ATM annually. However the noise assessments have been based on a figure much smaller than this. I am concerned that the level of noise and frequency of flights will detrimentally affect my childrens ability to concentrate in school, my ability to converse with my patients and the ability to enjoy the peaceful environment that we currently do. The negative effects of being woken at night and lack of sleep are well documented. In an area like Thanet that already has high levels of health issues, I feel that this will add to the challenges that the health services are already struggling to deal with.
  2. Particulate pollution and adverse effects on community health. I am very concerned that the particulate pollution will seriously endanger the health and wellbeing of the local community. RSP have not provided evidence or data to back up their claim that 'concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 around the airport are low, and the airport will be a very small source of these pollutants. I am not convinced that correct monitoring and measures have taken place to assess this risk. My son has [Redacted], which is currently mild, but I do worry that the pollution will aggravate his condition.
  3. The nearness of the runway to the town. The built up area begins 1.3km from the runway and is directly under the flight path. I am concerned that we will be being put at risk of a serious incident, especially considering that cargo aircraft are usually older planes and they will be flying very low over the town. There has been an incident of damage to a building from low-flying aircraft in Ramsgate in 2012.