Representation by Karim Zaman
- Date submitted
- 8 October 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am what is known as a DFL in Ramsgate. Down From London. As are my family, as we moved here after 15 years in London for all the reasons people do: fabulous houses, seaside life and great schools.
Ramsgate has struggled over the years and we have been weighing up whether or not to move here for the last few. But we saw the town start to change. Great little cafes and boutiques, art galleries and award-winning music venues.
The DFL phenomenon actually belies a huge movement of money towards Ramsgate. Whether that is the tourist buck, on the back of a 16% increase in tourism since 2016, out-running a much more modest rise across the rest of the country by 3 times. Or whether it is investment in permanent residence here, buying houses and spending locally week in or week out.
We, like many of our peers have invested and spent: a Victorian property now much loved and filled with family life, local tutors and music teachers for the kids, coffee, breakfast, cocktails, dinner in the increasingly well run and well populated local eateries.
A cargo hub will devastate all of this. From conversations with our friends and neighbours we know for a fact many will sell and leave if they can, many have held back from investing even more greatly in the area with extensions and second homes, guests will turn away from our town. Just tonight a lady asked the folk of Ramsgate via social media if she should move to us or to Brighton. “Don’t come if there is an airport” they all cried in unison. How could she? She would be subjecting her children to life shortening pollution (which I shall come to later). She would be risking her family’s mental health with up to 18 disturbances a night as per RSPs submission point x. And she would soon discover, like the rest of us, that a company run by a [Redacted] who has dissolved 29 companies, a company with roots in Belize and with unsubstantiated dubious financial backing was of greater value to the Government than a small seaside town finally reviving itself.
Undeniably, the best thing that has happened economically to Ramsgate in years is the boom in tourism right across Thanet. Margate continues to go from strength to strength and Ramsgate is right there behind it, with more beaches, a royal marina and we even face the afternoon sun. How can we put that at risk for a cargo hub, largely automated or staffed with expert traffic controllers from outside the region which is likely to employ in reality no more than the 147 it employed just before it failed the last time. Many, many more people locally would lose their jobs, jobs directly or indirectly linked to the huge increase in visitor and new home owners from outside the area, if this cargo hub is permitted. It will kill Ramsgate once and for all and we will morn as we pack our bags.
But the damage to Ramsgate will not only economic. The town of Ramsgate is closer to the runway than West Hounslow is to the runways of Heathrow. 70% of air traffic movements are planned to fly over Ramsgate day and night. The proximity means that planes landing at Manston will fly straight over the harbour (our main source of tourist revenue) at 270m, descend over the high street and leaving the Nethercourt estate at under 100m. The impact of these planes in terms of noise and pollution is huge. RSP did not include the environmental impact study in the original consultation and the current study uses inaccurate sound modelling that is contrary to the actual readings obtained in previous studies whilst the airport was active. There is also no consideration given to Ultra Fine Particulate (UFP) pollution PM2.5 which is now being proven to be the greatest risk to human health. At less than one-thousandth the width of a human hair, they go deep in the lungs, make their way into the bloodstream and spread to the brain, heart and other critical organs. They cause lung conditions, impair the function of the brain reducing learning ability and are linked to Alzheimer’s.
Los Angeles International airport (LAX) also has runways at a very similar distance to housing as Manston. Research has shown UFP levels at 6-8 times above normal levels within a few miles of the airport and at 10 times the normal level in the areas closest to the airport. This research calculated that it would take between 174 and 491 miles of freeway traffic – or about 20% to 50% of the highways in Los Angeles County – to generate levels of pollution equivalent to those detected around LAX. Whilst LAX has a higher number of movements, the freight movements at Manston are likely to be mainly fully laden old 747s that will have a higher individual level of pollution.
My daughter goes to [Redacted] school, a mere 3.5km from Manston (aircraft height 209m). Younger children find themselves in Christ Church Primary School (2.75km away with planes at 185m) or Chilton Primary School (1.8km with planes at 150m). In terms of particulate pollution the LAX study shows that it would be the equivalent of building a packed 4 lane motorway around these schools. Then consider the effect of the noise on their ability to learn. We will be under a duty to our children to leave Ramsgate. I hope you will put the people of Ramsgate ahead of the profits of a dubious offshore interest, reject the DCO application and permit us to remain and the town to prosper.