Representation by Mr Anthony Whitehorn
- Date submitted
- 30 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I write as a resident of Herne Bay situated beneath what would be the flight path of cargo planes operating from Manston airport.
My representation concerns (a) the proven damage to health in adults and (b) the proven damage to learning abilities in children caused by constant excessive levels of day and night aircraft noise.
(a) In 2009 a rigorously controlled investigation by Germany's central environment office into the effects of aircraft noise on one million people concluded that an average sound pressure level of 55 decibels at night raised blood pressure unacceptably and increased the risk of heart attacks in women by 139 per cent and in men by 66 per cent; and a level of 60 decibels in the day increased coronary heart disease in women by 80 per cent and in men by 61 per cent.
(b) Another study, again in Germany, in 1992, showed that children living beneath the flight path of aircraft operating from Munich airport suffered impairment of both memory and reading comprehension.
RSP apparently intends that the capacity of the cargo hub airport at Manston will be 12,000 air cargo movements a year, including an unlimited number of night flights. And aircraft would be accepted that have been banned from Heathrow and Gatwick because of excessive noise levels that match those cited as harmful above.
I am hoping that the Examining Authority will certainly not allow the commercial plans of RSP to override the health and wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of people.