Representation by Caroline Richardson
- Date submitted
- 20 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Ramsgate has the country's only Royal Harbour and is a Cinque Port. There are around 450 listed buildings or sites and four conservation areas within the town. In 2017 Ramsgate became one of only eighteen Heritage Action Zones, awarded by Historic England.Ramsgate is a pretty seaside town with numerous coffee shops, wine bars, independent businesses and a bustling marina which welcomes many foreign sailors. We have a lot to offer the many tourists, day visitors and those wishing to relocate. Tourism here is bucking the national trends and is increasing. Ramsgate has in my life time been through some difficulties but we have come through the other side without the help of an airport or freight hub. I am concerned about the validity of the application made by RSP. I am unaware of any national policy statement saying the the UK needs a freight hub at Manston. I believe that the D of T does not even advocate growth in this sector. Four independent and expert aviation reports disagree that Manston can be a viable operation, they show that assertions made by RSP are inaccurate and over ambitious. Analysis of current and future UK air freight indicates that Manston would never become financially viable. History backs this up as it has failed three times already. A fourth attempt would now deprive Thanet of the space it needs to build housing, schools and leisure facilities without impacting on local villages. RSP do not own the land that they are planning to develop and has not shown that it has the finances to undertake a project of such huge magnitude. PINS have already said that this must be corrected by the examination phase which should not go ahead without it. I have to wonder why a DCO was granted in the first place given the lack of finance. RSP have been trying since 2014 for a compulsory purchase on Manston but successive Thanet District Councils refuse to back them because of their failure to demonstrate financial credibility. What has changed? RSP have not taken into account the full impact of flight and glide paths on Ramsgate with Central Harbour, a HAZ, being directly under the flight path. Ramsgate is not 4k away from the runway as claimed by RSP. Currently the built up area is 1.3k away. It is 4k from the marina, across Ramsgate to the runway. Given this planes would be a lot lower than reported by RSP so noise and damage levels would be greater. Official data gained when Manston was last operational showed levels in excess of 60 dcb, measurements taken in Ramsgate at the same time showed levels of over 100dcb regularly. RSP are planning far more flight than ever went out of Manston in the past and are welcoming QC4 planes which are banned from London airports because of the noise levels. RSP actually state in their report that there would be "significant adverse effects" as a result of increased noise in communities in the vicinity of the airport and flight paths: Ramsgate, Manston, Pegwell are all on the flight path! Aside from what goes on in the air HGV traffic would increase , our road infrastructure is not capable of dealing with this type of traffic and we are too far away from the motorway network, we bottle neck up to the M25 with no alternative routes because of our geography, you only have to experience Operation Stack to understand the problems of the road network here. So noise, disturbed sleep , pollution and heavy traffic would destroy what is currently a lovely part of the country. We want to attract tourists from here and abroad. There are plans announced last week by our local MP for a Marina village, a multi- million pound project to attract people into the area not to drive them away. Ask yourself, would you like to sit in the sunshine with a glass of wine at our beautiful Royal Harbour and marina and have your conversation stopped every eight minutes because a plane was going over? No neither would we!Ramsgate and the surrounding area has lots to offer we do not want or need a freight hub.