Representation by John Flood
- Date submitted
- 8 October 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Dear Sirs,
I have lived and worked (as a teacher) in central Ramsgate for over thirty years. My major concerns are noise and night flights and the effects of these on the lives and businesses of those living in Ramsgate which lies between 1 and 4 kilometres from the end of the runway. I do not believe that a cargo airport at the end of what is basically a peninsular can be viable without night flights (see three previous attempts to expand freight businesses without night flights) and, despite the applicants claiming they do not want night flights, there is no realistic business plan that could compete with other cargo hubs in England without accepting flights at times when other airports would be restricted in doing so.
I have direct experience of the many negatives of night flights during the Bosnian airlifts in the nineties. The need for these was accepted by those living in Ramsgate because of their humanitarian intent and their limited duration, but no-one who experienced the sleep deprivation caused by those flight would ever want to experience them again on a permanent basis. The applicants' written and verbal statements on night flights and noise pollution have been contradictory and evasive to the point of what one must believe is intentional obfuscation. For example, what is an 'emergency'? Vegetables and other perishables that would rot if they did not get to London for the early morning markets? In which case there would soon be emergencies every night!
Thanet in in general and Ramsgate in particular have experienced many decades of decline since the collapse of the British holiday market in the 60's and for the first time since I moved here in 1986 there are signs that Ramsgate is beginning to find a new identity for itself as a tourist and week-end destination exploiting the uniqueness of its Royal Harbour and the attractions of its surrounding conservation areas and nature reserves. The growth of holiday B&Bs and the many now flourishing restaurants and bars surrounding the harbour attest to this. If the figures put forward by the applicants as necessary for their success were achieved then the effects on life, business and the regeneration of Ramsgate would be enormous, and if we factor in the inclusion of night flight which, no matter what the applicants say, would be necessary for their bottom line, then the daily lives and businesses of many thousands of people would be very negatively affected and the revival of a struggling small town halted and reversed.
Having lived under the actuality or the threat of an airport for many years I believe there are no provable advantages for the people of Thanet from the creation of a cargo airport and if the wooliness and misdirection of the applicants' figures on noise, number of night flights and pollution is any guide then their statements as to the advantages for the local economy should also be regarded with an extreme degree of doubt.
I ask therefore that having taken this personal statement into the account and having weighed the evidence of the previous independent expert inquiries into this matter you refuse the applicants DCO request.
Thank you.