Representation by Paul Luxmoore
- Date submitted
- 16 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am the Executive Headteacher of Coastal Academies Trust, consisting of five schools in Thanet: Dane Court Grammar School, King Ethelbert School, Hartsdown Academy, Cliftonville Primary School and Royal Harbour Academy. The Trust educates 4,500 children and employs iro 500 staff. I wish to register two serious objections to the proposals: 1. That up to 17,000 flights per year will seriously disrupt the education of children during the daytime - as is recognised in the planning submission. 2. That night flights will have a disastrous effect on the education of children living under, or near, the flight path. I used to live under the flight path in Ramsgate - on Royal Road - and so I know from personal experience that every plane landing at night wakes up those under it. Whilst occasional daytime flights were tolerable - 17,000 will not be. Thanet schools already under perform against national expectations, owing to the challenging socio economic background of the children. Disturbed sleep at night will make our job of educating them much harder than it already is. Significant noise disturbance during the day will also seriously disrupt learning. In my professional judgement, the proposal would significantly damage the life chances of thousands of children in Thanet - and this would be unacceptable by any rational standard.