Life under the flight path: 2

A reader writes:

I recently was speaking with a woman and we got on to the topic of the airport, not from a political anti-airport point of view, just mums chatting at a toddler group. She told me about her washing!

Funny little burn holes in her washing whilst it hangs on the line and she asked if we thought it could be aviation fuel?

The woman who runs the toddler group who lives in Cliffsend also said she gets tiny burn holes but only if the wind is in the direction of the airport. I wonder if this is a common phenomenon or coincidence?

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Any thoughts?

Campaigners anger at bid to introduce night flights

Airport owners have been accused of trying to "pull a fast one" after revealing new plans for night flights over Herne Bay. Controversy has boiled for the past two years over the policy, with Manston Airport owners Infratil keen to boost the number of night flights at the Thanet airport.

Under the current agreement the airport is not allowed any scheduled flights between 11pm and 7am. But in a new revised proposal submitted on Friday, Infratil says it will limit any flights between 11.30pm and 6am to less than two a night and will comply with a strict noise quota.

But the policy leaves them free to fly as many planes as they want - unrestricted by noise limits - between 11pm and 11.30pm and 6am and 7am.

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Blimey! A politician talking sense!

Don't get your hopes up, though - she's not in Kent...

This is Mary Macleod, MP for Brentford and Isleworth, who is lucky enough to have Heathrow Airport in her constituency. She is concerned about the health effects of night flights, and advocates phasing them out. How sensible! (By way of contrast, my MP is Roger Gale.)

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Night Flights at Heathrow Airport 25th May 2011

In a debate in Parliament yesterday, during Noise Action Week, I challenged the Government to ban night flights at Heathrow airport on the grounds of health and quality of life factors for local residents.

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Protesters claim research is misleading

Campaigners against proposals for regular night flights at Manston airport have questioned research claiming growth would provide 3,000 jobs. Campaigners from the No To Night Flights group questioned the basis for the figures. They claim Bournemouth airport handles 1 million passengers with 247 jobs and Stansted estimated its jobs total will soon fall to 330 per 1 million passengers.

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Our Children Speak...

To whom it may concern, I am writing to you to discuss the potential night flights over Ramsgate, speaking on the behalf of all the children in Ramsgate (and other towns that will be affected by night flights). Although it may not seem like a major issue to some people, it is a concern to the locals, in particular the children.

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Video snippets from RTC 25th October

Many thanks to our Multimedia Department (Outside Broadcast Unit) for the following video snippets from the Ramsgate Town Council meeting at Chatham House School on 25th October...

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Night flights may not be answer for jobs

Maurice Byford

Clipping: thisiskent

IN THE letters page of the Isle of Thanet Gazette over recent weeks there have been passionate letters supporting the proposal by Infratil for night flights over Thanet as a means to expand the airport services at Manston. While I support the proposal of expansion and the attempts by the airport to attract an airline to operate out of Thanet it is clear to me that the proposals set out for the night flights option are extremely misguided.

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Sleepless in Thanet

Steve Dawe

Clipping: thisiskent

MANSTON airport proposes to have more night flights. To do this ignores the known health impacts of aircraft noise. Research shows exposure to aircraft noise is damaging to health and even impairs learning in children. How productive will people in Thanet be if their sleep is disturbed, perhaps by noisy freight-carrying aircraft at night? The health evidence collected by researchers throughout the world is that there is a strong association between aviation noise at night and blood pressure problems.

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Manston: healthy and safe?

Brian Urwin (of the Ramsgate Alliance) spells it out, and tells the world. Public safety zones, fuel dumps, fireworks factory, flaky airlines, bird strike, radar interference from the windfarm, and NOISE... all this and more points to Manston not being particularly healthy or safe.

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