Representation by William Gary Latham
- Date submitted
- 12 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I moved to Ramsgate from Walthamstow, East London in March 2017. My reason for moving was for a better quality of life. A more peaceful and quieter life away from the noise and pollution of London. In particular the night time disturbance from helicopter surveillance by police helicopters over Walthamstow, particularly in the summer. The relative quiet of Ramsgate was such a relief. Imagine my dismay and alarm when I discovered the possibility of night time freight flights over Ramsgate from Manston airport. I love Ramsgate and my personal investment both financial and emotional in my new home and way of life is extensive. I feel that Ramsgate and my own personal life would suffer greatly from noisy night time freight flights directly over my home here in Ramsgate.
My main objection to the reinstatement of Manston airport as a freight airport, is the noise and pollution impact that it will have on the town and my quality of life, I live almost directly under the proposed flight path. A friend of mine lives near Heathrow and is moving because of the disruptive and detrimental noise effects (lack of sleep etc.) the aircraft flights are having on him and his family and he lives some 15 miles away from the direct flight paths! Here in Ramsgate we will be less than 4km from the runway. As I understand it there will be no cap on the Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) or on the proposed number of night flights, just a noise quota of 3028 QC points a year. This means extensive night time flying over Ramsgate. In my view the applicant has not given enough consideration to the real-time official noise measurements from past airport operations, especially from noise measurements considered by the then consultative committee. The applicants noise contour predictions over Ramsgate cannot be reconciled with the evidence on Thanet District Councils website of the noise levels recorded during the operation of much smaller airport operations in the past. Ramsgate is only 3.2 km from the end of the proposed runway at Manston, the hight of descending aircraft over Ramsgate Marina will be 289m, according to ‘London Manston Airport, Aircraft Noise Assessment and Mitigation Report, June 2003, p14’.
My fear is that Manston is too far away from mainstream freight terminals and that it would win business by offering night time freight flights to the bottom end of the freight market, for example, their proposal to accept night ATMs rated at QC4 (prohibited from London airports on noise grounds). The government says that “Noticeable and intrusive’ noise occurs (LOAEL) at 51 decibels (day) and 45 decibels (night), however the applicant offers only £4000 towards sound insulation and only for those experiencing 63 decibels continuously, so they are expecting noise levels of 63 decibels or more!. When Manston was operational SEL readings from the noise monitor atop the Ramsgate Grammar School consistently recorded noise levels above 90dB, 10,000 aircraft would almost certainly cause hearing loss not only amoungst the pupils but the greater population. On top of that the fuelling of the airport and it's aircraft is to be by road tanker, add to that the road freight in and out from Manston and you have considerable potential for congestion, noise and pollution effects all along the B2190, A299 and A28 around Manston on roads that were simply not built for that kind of traffic let alone the A2 and M2 corridor through East Thanet and Kent.
My second major concerned is about the safety aspect of a Manston Freight Airport. Ramsgate has a population of 40,000. Given the proposed airports proximity to Ramsgate, the number of schools under the flight path (over 2000 children attend the three schools under the flight path), the hight of the aircraft over the town, the nature of the cargo aircraft, the lack of local major A&E facilities and the past safety history of the airport, the Major Accidents and Disaster Assessment and Mitigation Plan (TR020002/APP/5.2-3) delivered by RSP fails to adequately address the risk factors of having a freight airport so close to Ramsgate. The applicant proposes that 70% of its take-offs will be over Ramsgate. Cargo aircraft are usually older planes and often from countries and airlines with poor safety records. Previous Manston customers included MK Airlines, Meridian, & KAM Air, now banned from UK air space. At its peak in 2009 Manston was the 6th largest cargo hub in the UK and handled 30,000 tonnes of cargo with only 435 flights yet there were a number of potentially fatal incidents (such as Vortex and beyond runway incidents), with a proposed 10,000 flights, the risk increases greatly.
Please do not allow this proposal to go forward. A freight airport at Manston will be noisy, polluting and simply unsafe for the residents of Ramsgate and East Thanet.