Representation by Lindsey Booth
- Date submitted
- 25 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I oppose the application by RSP for DCO on the former Manston failed airport site.
It is of no National interest to the country and is not needed in this area.
I have children and family who live in Ramsgate who would suffer as a result of being subjected to the noise and pollution from cargo airplanes. This would affect the children in the family affecting their schooling in the older buildings which are listed with no double glazing.
The pollution will affect the elderly and those with long term illnesses and will cost the economy in days off sick due to the effects of pollution and stress which research points to when living near an airport.
RSPs proposal will leave the local community with worthless jobs as before when this site was run as an airline. The RSP job numbers submitted give no actual detail of what or where the jobs will be. They seem to have plucked figures from the air. The last airline staff were ad-hoc, zero hours meaning they were only paid for the period of unloading of freight. The will be no business for loading freight as there is no business case for travelling to Thanet when we have the channel Tunnel, Dover docks (sea cargo is cheaper to operate than airfreight).
It would blight a blossoming seaside resort with continental cafes which has already developed since the last airline closed. We have commuters who moved from London to run their businesses here, who are threatening to leave if the DCO is approved.
The site already has plans awaiting approval by the local council which is supported locally and will provide houses that the government has stated we must have and which we need desperately as well as the planned industrial areas and leisure facilities.
RSP give no solid details of where the jobs they promise will come from. We do not need a dirty cargo hub. RSP lied at a consultation meeting stating there will be no night flight. Please check this against their proposals.
I cannot see an assessment by RSP for the effect on the transport system including the heavily congested route from Thanet to London.
This will affect everyone who has to commute by road along the A299, M2 and A2. Please will you check this in their environmental and economic assessment.
As for being a great investment opportunity; Wiggins airline failed, Kent International airline failed and [Redacted] couldn’t rescue it. This is yet another waste of time when Thanet needs what is already planned by the current owners. Kent needs housing. The government state we need housing. I say we need housing. Yet RSP are blocking the current owners from delivering this.
Manston is on the far tip of Kent. Other airports can take more cargo where as The tip of Kent does not need it. Housing will be blighted by this plan and developed on greenfield sites to the detriment of the environment if this DCO is granted.