Controversy over Manston airport is never far from the headlines but claims by a pilot that flights over Ramsgate are largely unnecessary will reignite the row. While most people in Thanet support the existence, and growth, of Kent International Airport, the subject of flights over the town has temperatures rising. Whether or not you live in the town, the blight that low-flying planes coming over the beaches and Eastcliff bring is pretty much indisputable.
Not many people can ignore the repetitive roar overhead of the training flights. The aim of having an airport in Manston is to attract business and tourism and to help regeneration. It would be ironic if these flight routes, which are to get busier if plans by airport owner's Infratil for growth come to fruition, threaten to scare away the very people and business we hope to attract.
Who would come to Ramsgate if they knew their visit was to be scuppered by the sound of roaring jet engines? What enjoyment is there in a scenery where bird sounds are drowned out by planes landing and the skies are heavily scored with vapour trails? For too long people complaining about flights over Ramsgate have been dismissed as Nimbys. Maybe this information will add credence to their claims that the disturbance is largely unnecessary.