Representation by Mrs Susan Bowley
- Date submitted
- 2 October 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
My husband and I live in close proximity to the Herne Bay water tower. During previous use of Manston Airport for freight, night flights aircraft lined up on the tower on their approach path to Manston. Their noise woke us and vibrated within the house. Two of our grandchildren live in Beltinge and the third near the viaduct in Ramsgate.
We are concerned with regards to the negative affects on health from lack of sleep. Equally the negative results of pollution on our family and all residents of Herne Bay and Ramsgate.
Night Flights and Noise We would like the Planning Inspectorate to investigate how many night flights are planned by RSP and what will be the actual noise quota over Herne Bay as their engines react for the descent. At a meeting we attended at the Kings Hall organised by RSP the spokesmen said there would be no night flights. Their flight path map at that meeting did not show Herne Bay at all. (That meeting was not well publicised. As neither has this consultation; we happened to see it in the Gazette but readership of that paper is limited) We cannot comprehend that fresh products for morning markets will not arrive during the night. A large proportion of the people left that meeting thinking that there would be just passenger flights. Entries in RSP's visitors at that meeting reflected that idea.
Pollution This aspect worries us for the future of our grandchildren and all children living in the area. Can the Planning Inspectorate ascertain from RSP the level of particulate pollution; N02, classified as a human carcinogen, would appear to particularly affect children's lungs. How will RSP mitigate against greenhouse gases from their elderly cargo planes and from the increase in heavy goods vehicles, delivering aviation fuel and other services to the airport, on our local roads? Run off from the airport is, according to RSP, captured in a dirty pond. Will the Planning Inspectorate ask how any emergency discharge and the normal run off of pollutants from an airport be treated before it is piped to a disposal area. Residents need to know that aquifers and the surrounding sea will continue to sustain unpolluted water. Bird/marine life and tourists once lost to the area will not return. East Kent needs tourism to generate and sustain employment.
Impact on roads Manston is further from motorways than other existing freight hubs. RSP needs to be asked if it has calculated the traffic impact on local roads: A299, A28, A256. Into the future the M2 will face the unknown results of BREXIT and the roads linked to the new Thames Crossing. We request the Planning Inspectorate to ascertain that RSP, as an operating company, has the requisite management skills to run a successful airport and, in particular, the supply needs that this will require.