Representation by Allison Murdoch
- Date submitted
- 2 October 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
As a teaching assistant at a local primary school, I am deeply worried about the proposal to turn Manston Airport into a cargo airport. Our school has only just received a "Good" rating from Ofsted after several years of hard work by the staff. Our playground and sports field, which currently enjoys an elevated view of the sea and horizon line, is directly under the flight path. The noise and disruption to the classroom would be devastating. Colleagues, who were working in Ramsgate under the previous cargo flights, have said that they were forced to stop teaching during lessons when flights were overhead because they could not hear their own voices. Many of the students at my current school have learning and sensory issues which make loud noises and other disruptions absolutely unbearable for them. You may think that these children form a minority in the classroom, but these few directly affect the learning of all the other children, putting everyone at a disadvantage in an already economically challenged area. In my own experience of the KLM practise flights, I found the noise ear-splitting and this destroyed the students' concentration on the playing field and all sport had to stop. The high-pitched whine of the airplanes engines was particularly painful, especially to our 'special education needs' students and, again, this adversely affects everyone. Ramsgate has been a place of historic importance - the beauty of its architecture and its location on a gorgeous stretch of coast are helping it rediscover its pride but these flights threaten this regeneration.