Representation by Clive Holland
- Date submitted
- 8 October 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am a Ramsgate resident living under the flight path of Manston Airport. I am objecting to a 24/7 cargo hub on a number of grounds. Firstly, as a cargo hub it is in the wrong place. A hub tends to be central to where goods are needed; Manston is surrounded on three sides by sea. We are over an hour away from the M25. This development will generate tens of thousands of extra heavy vehicles on our roads delivering fuel and goods 24/7, producing vast amounts of nitrogen oxide and particulate matter both known to be killers. Nor do we have the infrastructure to cope with that extra burden. Other better placed airports around the UK have spare capacity; Manston is not needed, nor is it viable according to a number of independent reports. Secondly, the effects of air and noise pollution caused by up to 83,000 Air Transport Movements yearly on the area, particularly Ramsgate, 1.3 kilometres from the runway, will be intolerable. Aircraft use tons of fuel during take off, the resulting pollution will endanger life across Thanet, a deprived area which already has a lower life expectancy than England (KCC Life Expectancy in Kent January 2018). When the airport was operational we were able to taste and smell the pollution, we were also affected by noise (90db+ levels were recorded). Conversations had to stop as planes flew over. We were regularly woken, with windows rattling, during the night causing me and my work to suffer through sleep deprivation the following day. Despite telling the public that they have no plans for night flights, RiveroakSP DCO documentation says, “RiverOak’s business case is based on the potential need for night flights. . .” Thirdly, Thanet relies on tourism. Millions of people visit the area, to enjoy the beaches, festivals, events, heritage, arts, architecture, the harbour, the sites of special scientific interest and the cafe and bar culture: tourism in Ramsgate employs hundreds of people. It needs income from outside the area. A polluting airport along with the increased traffic will decimate this. Fourthly, RiveroakSP appear to have no track record in freight aviation, nor do they have capital, the company is registered in tax free Belize, [Redacted] has a long record of commercial failure, the consultation process was flawed (I received no information despite living under the flightpath, neither did any of my neighbours, nor friends in the same area), they promise thousands of jobs, yet also say it will be a state of the art facility; surely then most of the work will be automated. When the airport was operating it employed just over 100 people, fewer than the new Wetherspoons in Ramsgate which will be under threat from the airport’s reopening. There is no other conurbation in the UK that is as close to the end of a runway as Ramsgate. I believe the people of Thanet deserve the same respect, the same protections as the rest of the UK.