Representation by Paul Fuller
- Date submitted
- 29 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
My name is Paul Fuller and [Redacted] who live directly under the Manston flight path near Ramsgate town centre, I have also grown up and lived in Ramsgate all my life and commute to London working in the Financial Sector.
If this application is successful in its current form then it will affect the physical and mental health of my family, particularly the health of our new-born baby. This will be due to the environmental impact caused by the sheer number of planned air movements which are an order of magnitude greater than what has ever been previously operated from Manston and that under the proposals there will be flights at all hours of the day causing sleep deprivation.
The main points I would like you to investigate are;
i). Does the business case really stack up; Independent analysis from multiple sources disagree with the RSP analysis and conclusions. For example; the report Thanet District Council commissioned concluded that an airport operation would never be viable at the Manston location. The business case is also optimistic on growth and jobs especially as the passenger numbers are a major factor in the jobs calculation and Manston has always struggled with attracting passengers due to its geographical location and proximity to Gatwick and it’s 24-hour train link to London.
ii). Has it been demonstrated that the applicant is financial credibility and has a track record in delivering developments of this type and scale. There have been several occasions during the process to get to a DCO that the developer could not provide evidence of the funds to the various council administrations over the years.
iii). Has the environmental impact been correctly assessed;
- The Noise impact assessment is inconsistent with previous operator’s submissions.
- Ramsgate’s distance from the airport is misreported at 4km when at it’s closest built up area is just 1.3km away.
- Why are noisier aircraft (QC4) prohibited from operating at other airports at night allowed in the proposal, is this to attract the lower end of the market with greater environmental impact.
iV). What is the opportunity cost of this project to the local area? Since the demise of the last Manston operator there have been a number of luxury hotels in Ramsgate, a noticeable increase I tourism and talk of a leisure marina development. With a 24 x 7 airport operation the leisure sector will be under threat and likely to reduce as well as discouraging any potential marina developer to invest.
In short, I believe the scale of the proposed development with minimal flight restrictions will kill off Ramsgate reversing the gradual regeneration of the town in previous years due to people relocating to the area from London, enabling them to free up asset values and investing in new businesses that provide new jobs to area. A 24/7 Cargo hub will end this in order to provide a comparatively small amount of low grade jobs for the environmental end economic cost to Ramsgate.