Representation by Sandra Ing
- Date submitted
- 24 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
With all the many assets we have in Thanet, why on earth would we want to be risking it all with a cargo airport and a 24/7 one at that!! Who in their right mind would want to visit let alone live here with continual flights coming into land right over the centre of Ramsgate and taking off over the villages and encroaching over Herne Bay. It would be complete hell and misery for folks, as we have already experienced. I know from personal experience that when night flights were operating I suffered from broken sleep and my ability to function adequately in my business the next day was seriously compromised. Ear plugs do not keep the noise out and vibration from planes taking off shakes the whole fabric of our house. We are already under a very busy flight path from planes coming and going from Heathrow, Gatwick, London City and Stanstead. This is from very early morning to late at night and noisy at times with some flights at a relatively low altitude. We simply do not need another source of noise and at even closer proximity.
I know I am not alone in dreading the return of these awful conditions, which will inevitably lead to other serious health problems for people over a longer period. Aircraft pollution has a proven devastating affect on the circulatory system of the body and illnesses such as asthma, COPD, heart disease and cancers would become commonplace. Stress and anxiety would also increase and folks would end up on a cocktail of medication. Our children would not achieve at school because of compromised sleep and this in turn would affect their ability to attain university places and subsequently good professions or quality employment. Added to this, the tourists that have started to come back here on holiday would almost certainly stop coming. This is fast developing into an area of relaxation and leisure. In addition to the revival of the major seaside towns of Thanet, we can boast 15 award winning sandy beaches with miles of golden sand from Minnis Bay to Pegwell Bay.
RSP have been unable convince me that they have sufficient funds to put this project into fruition and I do not believe their business plan is a viable one. Apart from this, what we do know as fact is that ever since commercial and cargo flights from Manston were attempted in the early 1960s, with the assistance of the RAF air traffic facilities at the time, nothing was ever successful and successive ventures ended up in failure and incurring very considerable losses.
Let’s think outside the box and turn the site to far better and much needed use! We really do need at least one more GPs surgery in this area, another school and also the leisure facilities planned. This goes hand-in-hand with the expanding tourism which we are experiencing. We also do need to have real, sustainable, quality employment opportunities which new businesses on the site will generate. Manston’s heritage will also be addressed by creating larger facilities to house the historic Spitfire and Hurricane Museum and a runway dedicated for heritage aircraft display use. Ultimately, we do need to provide housing – people have to live somewhere - and it is far better to put this onto an existing brown field site rather than using valuable, fertile agricultural land which we need for growing crops for an expanding U.K. population.