Representation by Tim Spencer
- Date submitted
- 21 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
You've undoubtedly been inundated with much technical and legal advice explaining how wrong it will be to allow a freight hub at Manston that claims to be "in the national interest".
From a personal viewpoint I believe the proposal should be rejected on simple common sense grounds.
I was living in Ramsgate when the previous freight adventure flew around 400 daytime ATMs over the people of this area. It was horrible. The noise of each flight interrupted normal conversation and the unseen threat of pollution, air accident and disturbance of wildlife was a source of continuing anxiety.
It was always obvious that the airport was failing and I could never understand how it could possibly be made to work. I was not surprised when it was sold for £1.00
If the freight hub is allowed to re-open just how can the proposed levels of noise and pollution be permitted in law? I own a car and I will be prosecuted if the noise, NO2 and greenhouse gas emissions from my vehicle exceed a certain prescribed level - a level that is way below what the proposed ATMs will expose the people of this area to.
Also illegal is child abuse. Ramsgate is less than 2 miles from the runway and there are 3 schools directly under the flight path. To have anyone, let alone children, woken up every hour every night with over-flying is without doubt a form of abuse. Then, to inflict this same noise disruption upon the learning environment of children throughout every day beggars belief.
A tremendous increase in lorry movements will be necessary to service the air traffic and freight movements proposed. A vast number of fuel tankers and freight transport lorries will bring with them a significant increase in pollution and potential danger of accident. The transport access to the airport area is inadequate for such increased traffic movements. During the 2013 South East Airshow, traffic congestion and chaos occurred that was reported as: "Thousands of spectators endured queues of up to nine miles, with some stuck in the gridlock for so long they did not arrive at Manston Airport on Saturday until the event was over".
I am also very concerned about the natural environment of my neighbourhood. The Thanet Coast has many Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, Marine Conservation Zones and Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The noise, pollution and general disruption caused by so many plane and vehicle movements will especially impact severely on the well-being of birds - already under threat from climate change and other environmental degredation.
I believe that there is no "national interest" at stake with this proposal. It is surely a political exercise involving two standing conservative MPs threatened by a potential UKIP resurgence in the area where a small number of votes determines who inherits power. It is also a struggle to determine who owns the land at Manston when it comes to building houses on it. There are surely millions of pounds to be made from developing the land currently available after a past airport failed. The same millions when a future airport fails.
Why put the people of this area through all the unnecessary traumas of a short-lived freight hub when profit from housing is the goal of all parties concerned with this unseemly political struggle?