Representation by Artist Partners (Artist Partners)
- Date submitted
- 19 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
We are Artist Partners, a locally residing company in Ramsgate and part of the No Night Flight (NNF) campaign. We are against the development of Manston as a cargo airport for the following reasons:
Impact on peoples health - air pollution including NO2 pollution and greenhouse gas emissions are already a concern for the UK and this would exacerbate the problem by increasing toxic levels and endangering the health and wellbeing of my community. Currently there are no measures in place to ensure the accuracy of air quality. Thanet is a population older than average as such it is expected to be disproportionately affected by an increase in poor air quality. The applicant has also admitted that proposals to reduce greenhouse gases are weak. It also must be taken into consideration that cargo planes are older and pollute more than passenger planes. Additionally, there will be an increase in heavy goods vehicles using the roads locally and beyond Thanet, which will add to the decrease in air quality.
Noise - as there is no cap on number of flights and does not include any passenger or non-freight flights there is no way to accurately understand what the implications noise pollution will actually have. There is also no cap on the number of night flights and although they say they don’t “want nor need” them it leaves room for them to happen anyway so their true intention is unclear. If night flights do occur they will also inflict light pollution, which is another area that seems to be, have been inadequately addressed. There is inconsistent measurement of noise across the studies and no “worst case scenarios” have been presented.
Heritage – Ramsgate has been recognized as a Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) has four conservation areas (Pegwell, Montfiore, Royal Esplanade and Central Harbour) and has 450 listed sites. The significance of these assets has not been fully recognized by the applicant. The implications of having a flight path directly overhead include physical damage to the properties caused by noise and low frequency vibrations as well as the human response to noise.
The development of Manston as cargo hub would lead to significant increases in carbon emissions and contribute to climate change. In an area where sea levels are on the rise and already threaten homes, farms and sites of nature conservation importance – we say NO to Manston as a cargo airport.