Representation by Margaret Symonds
- Date submitted
- 14 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
The Government has said that it requires 17,500 homes to be built in Thanet, of which approximately 3,000 have already been built.
Housing for rent in Thanet is expensive and usually only available on short lease. Landlords can require tenants to leave at little notice (usually approximately 2 months). I have personal knowledge of friends who have suffered in this way, causing almost intolerable stress. There is therefore a dire need in Thanet for social, affordable and good quality housing for residents. The rental situation, exacerbated by the introduction of Universal Credit, has led to a large increase in homelessness in Thanet. The Thanet Gazette of 14 September reported that a government grant of £483,000 has had to be paid to Thanet District Council to support rough sleepers.
Land available for housing on the site of the redundant airport at Manston could accommodate over 3,000 homes, including approximately 500 affordable homes and social housing, which would go a long way to addressing the problem of homelessness. Under the plans proposed by the current owner, Stone Hill Park, there would be ample space on the airport site for both housing, provision of good quality jobs, schools and medical facilities, good leisure facilities and public open space as well as retention of the existing museums, and runway facilities for heritage aircraft. The current situation where RSP continues to fight to reopen Manston Airport has already hindered the current owners of the site from putting their development plans, summarised above, into action.
In addition, a cargo hub set up at the airport with 10,000 movements, including a large number of night flights, would render the area for some distance round the airport unsuitable for housing, particularly for families, because of noise and atmospheric pollution which are damaging to health and child development. Even with noise mitigation such as triple glazing, outside areas such as gardens and school playgrounds are for all practical purposes unusable because, as I personally experienced in the Ramsgate Harbour area, conversation is impossible at decibel levels of around 100, and if sustained can lead to hearing damage. Such homes would be difficult to sell, and prices in Ramsgate itself would fall.
If the airport, a brownfield site, is not available to build a significant number of homes, it will be necessary to build them in much smaller, often greenfield sites, with no room for additional facilities for the increased population. The areas built on will frequently be farmland, or in the ‘green wedges’ between the towns of Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Margate, adding to congestion on local roads already inadequate for the traffic which currently uses them.
I have in the past lived next to a closed down airport (West Malling) and the subsequent mixed use development was very successful, with no impact on surrounding areas in terms of traffic and noise etc. It also relieved us of excessive development in our village, which was half a mile from the end of the runway.