Representation by Teresa Sharp
- Date submitted
- 3 October 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am a resident of Belting living very close to the sea, I am concerned at the proposal put forward by RSP. The points I would like the examining authority to examine are, The claims RSP have made and how they have developed their night flights, noise assessment and noise monitoring over Herne Bay. which will be significantly affected.
• RSP and their supporters it seems are trying to deceive the public denying, that night will not take place, with exception of emergencies etc. RSP stated ‘we are designing Manston so that customers are both able and incentivised to fly during the day but some non-scheduled night flights cannot be ruled out, whether they are delayed daytime flights, medical emergencies, or flights carrying time-sensitive cargo with a very specific delivery window’. [Redacted] This suggests minimal night flights, therefore why are RSP not only applying for a quota of 3028 points per annum, additionally in the environmental assessment, base the worst case on a quota of 2920 points per annum 8 flights per night. The vast majority of the freight flown by DHL, UPS, TNT etc goes at night, no explanation as to why this would be different for RSP. • RSP base the impact of noise on Herne Bay using averages, research has found that this does not reflect the impact of noise on a community and rural areas (villages) have low background noise levels and therefore aircraft noise is more intrusive. Impacting on health and well-being. • What is the reason for 70:30 split between the east and west runways with Herne Bay having 70% of the flights overhead. • The locations RSP have chosen around Herne Bay to establish current noise levels have all been placed in areas which have higher than average background noise, (A299 and adjacent to high speed railway lines) these areas will not give a true assessment of the average noise in Herne Bay Beltinge and Reculver, all of which will be significantly affected by aircraft noise. • RSP claims ranging from +0.1-1dB between current noise and projected noise does not show the true impact. The estimated Height of aircraft over Herne Bay is 2400ft at which aircraft noise is 66-80dB. Noise Guidelines for Europe state “If negative effects on sleep are to be avoided the equivalent sound pressure level should not exceed 30dBA indoors for continuous noise. If the noise is not continuous, sleep disturbance correlates best with LAmax and effects have been observed at 45 dB or less”. However, an average level difference of 21dB has been chosen, as this takes into account that even in well-insulated houses windows may be open a large part of the year. Much research has been done to prove the level of noise at 55dB affects sleep, health, mental health and education especially higher blood pressure and reading levels among children.