Representation by Deb Shotton
- Date submitted
- 19 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Sirs, I am registering to submit my opposition to the grant of a DCO in relation to the Manston site.
My objections are many, but primarily concerns for our health and well-being and those of our neighbours, together with a deep mistrust of the intentions of those seeking to take over this land.
Ramsgate is a beautiful town with a thriving tourist industry. Long-time lovers of the area, we have invested significantly (both financially and emotionally) to buy and restore properties as holiday homes.
The plans for an air cargo hub at Maston will blight this beautiful area. We live approximately 2 miles from the end of the runway, directly under the flight path. We will thus be robbed of our health, our mental well-being and our future in the tourist industry. The beach is less than one mile further from the end of the runway and there is well-documented environmental fall-out from such low flying planes, especially of the class for which permission is sought in this application. The beach and all its environs will be adversely affected and day trippers and holiday visitors will choose locations more healthful and quiet, especially in the light of the most recent scientific research into the effects of air pollution on the young and the elderly. I urge the inspectors to commission expert witnesses to examine both the long-term and immediate health and educational costs to Ramsgate and other affected areas in the light of this research.
From the point of view of viability (and therefore the need for a DCO), I do not believe that Manston will succeed as a profitable airport. Indeed, all the evidence is to the contrary, with concerns about its location, the availability of a sufficiency of aviation fuel and the ability of the local infrastructure to deal with the resultant traffic.
I have yet to see it demonstrated that there is a need for a further air cargo hub in the UK, with excess capacity extant at various, much more central locations such as Stansted and East Midlands. I cannot therefore understand how this application can be considered to be in the national interest, let alone of sufficient national importance to merit a DCO.
The applicants have a history, both with Manston itself and with other "airports", of turning airport sites into housing.
I believe this to the primary aim of this group.
In building up hopes among those residents who have fond memories of flights from Manston that this will be a viable prospect, bringing jobs and prosperity and avoiding further homes (of which there seems to be an irrational fear) I fear RSP and their supporters (including the two local MPs) have cynically played on the wishes and fears of us all to distract us from their wish to take land from those to whom it belongs (and who have widely respected plans for both housing and an historic airfield at Manston) and then develop it themselves having, finally (apparently), come to realize that the airport is not, after all a viable option.
I urge the inspectors to look very carefully at this company, its historic activities, and the probity of those involved.