Representation by Ms. Carmel Togher
- Date submitted
- 8 October 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Dear Sir/Madam
I am a Ramsgate resident, requesting to be registered as an interested party in relation to the proposed DCO by Riveroak Strategic Partners (‘RSP’) of the former Manston Airport site in Kent.
I live with my family in Bellevue Road, Ramsgate, having purchased our home in July 2008. One of the main drivers for moving was that we had previously lived under a main flight path and despite the additional distance to commute to London believed the tranquil setting and relative quiet would mean that we would have work from home options that made the move viable for us. I am incredibly concerned of the potential impact on the health and wellbeing of my family should a DCO be granted – my husband and I have already looked at moving locally to avoid my son having to move schools so early but have been told we have likely "missed the boat" in that new buyers will be put off by the DCO, any house in a chain which includes other houses on the flight path could collapse and in areas in Thanet (such as Broadstairs) which are outside the flight path, prices have already shot up.
Expert opinions on viability of Manston- Four independent aviation experts disagree that Manston can ever become viable and three direct the "Azimuth" findings directly – the remaining opinion merely predates the RSP Azimuth report. An example "[that Manston being viable] was extremely optimistic, not credible or likely, with negligible supporting evidence".
Without prejudice to the foregoing, the RSP plans are alarming given their potential impact on Ramsgate and its residents and should be rejected forthwith for the following additional reasons:
Noise and pollution- I live in a single-glazed period house and have chronic insomnia – my [Redacted] son also has [Redacted] which is a very serious and potentially life threatening condition. Three of the four in the household are asthmatic and since my youngest is only a few months old we wouldn't know at this stage whether she is. Furthermore, what impact will the resulting pollution have on their health and what does the future hold for them in terms of school attainment etc given the number of local schools directly under the proposed flightpath? Until recently I was a governor at a local grammar school and I know large numbers of teachers, parents and students were concerned. Very few were in support based on my discussions.
Significant adverse effect on Ramsgate - RSP by their own admission admit that their plans will have a ‘significant adverse effect’ on the quality of life of people living in Ramsgate and further afield as a result of the noise, pollution etc. that 83,000 freight Air Traffic Movements per year will cause. When I speak to friends and family who have visited Ramsgate, they are absolutely astounded that this would even be considered by any entity that already legally owned the land with a good track record in aviation – never mind to the entity concerned via a DCO. The worrying thing is that the few supporters of the DCO have no idea how many flights there will be under the proposal and are not aware of any ability to fly at night but merely think that it will be as before.
Impact on homeowners and Ramsgate more generally- Ramsgate is largely dependent on two things- tourism and attracting enough higher income families to relocate to support regeneration. Any potential gains achieved through a limited number of jobs being created at Manston would be lost hundreds if not thousands of times over by the impact of these plans. Tourism will cease given the proposed 230 flights per day and many families would leave – families who have moved down an who, myself included, use the spare time they have making valuable contributions to the local community by volunteering for everything from schools, to food banks, to adult literacy programmes, to beach and park clean-ups. This would be a great loss. Those residents who cannot afford to leave or who find themselves unable to sell their homes due to the impact of the RSP plans will be forced to live with the significant and permanent adverse effect on their quality of life which RSP have by their own admissions indicated will occur. I would need to move as I couldn’t' work from home with the level of noise I know I could expect – and nor could my husband.
I therefore appeal to you to reject this application forthwith. Carmel Togher