Representation by Richard Ryan
- Date submitted
- 8 October 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
As a resident of Ramsgate and a senior officer with an international environmental charity, I strongly oppose the applicant's plans to develop a cargo hub facility at Manston on the following grounds:
Pollution/Impact on Health
Insufficient data is presented in the applicant's proposal to back up the claim that concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 will be kept to low or safe levels. In particular, reliable benchmark figures for PM2.5 concentrations are not available at a district level, and these are not monitored by Thanet District Council. Given that no comparative data is available, the applicant's claim that PM2.5 concentrations will be kept to a safe level does not seem to be based on any known data/evidence, and is thus highly questionable.
High levels of NO2 pollution contribute to almost 30,000 deaths in the UK's urban areas per year. NO2 is classified as a human carcinogen, and is linked to the development and exacerbation of lung cancer, asthma, COPD, and other limiting long-term illnesses. The applicant states that a minimum volume of 17,100 ATMs per year will have a 'slight' or 'minimum' impact on increasing particulate concentrations in Thanet. This is a highly dubious claim and needs to be more thoroughly examined. In all likelihood, a cargo hub operating between 20,000-70,000 ATMs per year, plus associated supply chain/fuelling traffic, is likely to increase particulate concentrations significantly, which will have a deleterious effect on the health of residents in Ramsgate who already suffer from above average incidences of pulmonary and cardiovascular illness.
Biodiversity Impact
I live within a short walk of Pegwell and Sandwich Bays. Sandwich Bay, in particular, is a site of international significance with regard to its biodiversity. The applicant states that whilst the proposal for a cargo hub will have significant adverse effects on the communities of Ramsgate, Manston, St Nicholas at Wade etc, it will not have a significant effect on the European designated sites for vulnerable wildlife that sit adjacent to these communities. This simply does not make sense. Unfortunately, it is likely that a freight hub will have an incredibly negative and irrevocable impact on local wildlife sites and habitats which could lead to the demise of nationally and internationally rare populations of birds and invertebrates.
I ask the Planning Inspectorate to consider these outline points on the overwhelmingly negative impact of the proposal on residents' health and the environment in and around Ramsgate.