Representation by Susan Coughlin
- Date submitted
- 5 October 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I write as a resident of Herne Bay, a town located at the western end of the landing flightpath and acknowledged by the company at a public meeting to be one of the areas which will be affected by noise from aircraft flight movements. Herne Bay is a seaside town with an above average elderly population which will have more potential sensitivity to the health impact of aircraft noise. The town is used as a seaside destination by people living in other areas of Kent and London and has many visitors from other areas of the country. I am a volunteer at our local museum and I am aware that in the summer 40% of our visitors come from areas of Kent outside the CT codes and London and 20% of our visitors come from other areas of the UK. The peace and tranquillity of the area is therefore very important to maintain this type of commerce and the reports do not give me any sense that these issues have been properly considered. Herne Bay and Reculver are barely considered at all. Although we have been told that the Business Plan for the company is not based on the need for any night flights and that quotas are simply there to allow for an occasional need to land or take off outside daytime hours, the quotas suggested by the Noise Assessment seem far too high to be consistent with this. If there is no commercial need for night flights then much smaller quotas could be set to allow for this occasional need. I oppose any scheduled night flights. There is ambiguity on the use of night time and shoulder periods. As far as most people are concerned the period between 6 and 7 would still be considered to be a period when sleep is likely to be disturbed and again such a large quota during this period suggests that there will be regular aircraft movements between the hours of 6 and 7. I oppose any scheduled flights during the shoulder period. There appears to have been no assessment of the likely effect of lorry traffic increases on the Thanet Way. At the last consultation there was no completed Health Impact Assessment which I would have expected to be an essential part of this consultation exercise. The proposed Noise Mitigation Plan is inadequate to protect residents and visitors from noise events at night in terms of noise quotas, flight management, monitoring and enforcement.