Representation by Sandra Winkworth
- Date submitted
- 5 October 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I have lived in Herne Bay all my life, and in Manston’s earlier incarnations, experienced problems with air traffic to/from Manston. It is my belief that RSP’s proposal fails to take account of the true environmental, human and economic impact of re-opening Manston as a mainly Cargo airport and overstates the need and benefits of its business.
In the past I have experienced the impact of flights arriving late evening and in the early hours of the morning. When this happens, I can assure you this does not happen quietly and definitely disturbs our sleep and alertness the next day.
I would like the inspectorate to confirm that a case has been made for the establishment of a UK freight airport hub at Manston and is in the National Interest and that RSP has made a clear and compelling case.
I would like the inspectorate to firmly establish what RSP is proposing and how many, how frequent and what night flights are planned.
I would like the inspectorate to balance any need for the proposed night flights with the impact this will have on the well-being and health of all residents & visitors to the local area and if necessary to identify if a “cap” on night flights is required. How this should be measured and enforced.
I would like the inspectorate to review the proposal to determine if sufficient work has been carried out or further work is needed to establish the impact of its proposals and identify areas of mitigation of any potential problems in the wider surrounding area under the East Approach path (e.g. Herne Bay).
I would like the inspectorate to consider the manner in which RSP has calculated and presented its noise impact assessments and identify if this is commensurate with WHO statistics or other recognised methodologies to provide a true assessment of annoyance / impact and to verify this has been applied to the Herne Bay area.
I would like the inspectorate to consider the work undertaken on noise and environment pollution impact and whether these take full account of the levels of air-traffic and related heavy lorry road traffic planned for many thousands of tons of cargo by RSP and are accurately reflected in its proposal to reverse the historic 30:70 split such that 70% of flights pass over Herne Bay
I would like the inspectorate to review the noise measurement and mitigation plans to ensure RSP’s calculations / technical findings are commensurate with the actual number of flights planned/required and that these numbers are consistent with its planned operating profile and the numbers used in the technical and impact reviews. Also that they include the wider-area (e.g. Herne-Bay) impacted by the flights and related heavy traffic needs.