Representation by Writers Against Manston Cargo Hub
- Date submitted
- 8 October 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
This group represents those who work as writers from their Ramsgate homes, 135 members to date. We are deeply fearful at the prospect of a cargo hub with a limitless application for night flights opening so close to the place we live and work. Writing and research requires peace and concentration; interviews by phone or Skype, often of a sensitive nature, have to be conducted without background noise. People who remember Manston's planes before it closed in 2014 say the noise was deafening as they came into land overhead, so close, the pilots' faces were visible. Conversations had to cease, windows rattled, tiles were knocked off roofs, chimneys destroyed by falling debris. With our homes and work places under threat, and our concentration and sleep destroyed by night flights, our health and livelihoods would be at serious risk. We do not believe Manston is worthy of National Infrastructure Status, nor do we have any trust in RSP's business case. Manston is geographically unsuited to be a national hub. It's surrounded on three sides by sea, an hour from the M25 and the dual carriageways (A299 and M2) would not support the number of lorries the freight operation would need. It would destroy the tourist industry and property market in Ramsgate and spell an end to the renewal and regeneration which has been taking place in the past few years. SHP, the owners of the site, have plans for mixed-use development; we believe people are what the area needs most to prosper in the future. We do not want British land to be sold off to a Belize-registered shell company. We are fearful of the reputation of RSP's [Redacted], [Redacted] with a hair-raising history of failed aviation businesses, including at Manston itself, and alarmed that rather than fighting to protect their community from environmental and economic devastation, our two local MPS blatantly support his ambitions. Buried deep in RSP's own documentation is the statement that the cargo hub would have a 'significant adverse effect' on Ramsgate, detrimental to residents' quality of life. We feel badly let down by those on Thanet District Council and in Parliament who are elected to represent us.