Representation by Lee Woolcott-Ellis
- Date submitted
- 8 October 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am 54 years of age and I have always lived in Thanet, the past 19 years I have lived in St. Lawrence, Ramsgate. My house is directly under what was the former ‘flight path’ and I remember the noise from that during the day and occasionally at night. I remember the smell and taste of the aviation fuel being deposited in my garden, when we sat out there. I remember my young children cowering every time a cargo plane came into land or took off. I remember my pets running to hide every time a cargo plane flew over and I remember having to pause telephone conversations every time a cargo plane drowned out all conversation. I remember one day when a large, noisy cargo jet came over our house so low that it created a huge downdraft that came down our chimney causing all internal house doors to slam violently together with all front of house double glazed windows blowing the vacuumed seal between both panes of glass. Within hours of this our double glazing became misted between the two panes. This also happened to our neighbors’ house at the same time.
I have always been a shift worker, working extremely late hours and extremely early hours and the difficulty I had when the occasional late or night flight came over the house. The thought of constant, night flights will be disastrous for my health as I still work early and late shifts and equally distracting for my young daughter who has not long started her journey through secondary school. The stresses and fatigues we would suffer from regular disturbed sleep, would undoubtedly impact on my daughter’s concentration and ability to learn at school, in addition to my performance at work, which as a safety critical role may result in difficulties for me maintaining my job. If a 24/7 cargo hub with night flights is likely to impact on our family in this manner, I can see this being a major issue for many families in the Ramsgate area with hundreds of school children being affected and thousands of shift workers (from Railway, Maritime, Military, Police and Construction industries especially affected).
The thought of a 24/7 cargo hub airport with the associated noise, pollution and increased road traffic on the main route into and out of the Isle of Thanet, which will impact on every aspect of our lives in Ramsgate fills me with fear. I fear for our children’s development and learning. I fear for the general health and well being of all residents of Ramsgate, especially the young and old. I fear for the impact a 24/7 cargo hub would have on the quality of life in Ramsgate, with noise, pollution and environmental damage being a recognized result of such a venture. I fear for the negative impact a 24/7 cargo hub will have on tourism in Ramsgate. I am firmly against the DCO proposed for the former Manston airfield.