Tannoyance

Where in Ramsgate can you hear the Tannoys at the port and the station? Wherever it is, that's where this chap lives. He signs himself Mr Porter, although his email address suggests his name is Mr Turner. Either way, he asks some oft-repeated questions.

Quick answers: (1) and (2) - it is because we live and have our livelihoods under and near the flight paths that we are so concerned; (3) not sure how this is relevant - I don't need to be a civil engineer to have an opinion on whether I want a dual carriageway built in my gardern; (4) I am so bored of this one.

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Dear Sir / Madame,

I have read some of your information with regards to Manston and the intended flights and alleged disturbances. I would however like to ask some questions to help me understand the reasons for your train of thought.

1. How many of you live on or near the flight path ?
2. Do you have businesses or investments around the flight path ?
3. How many of you have worked in Aviation and understand the logistics of airport business?!
4. If you do not like noise then why live near an airport that has existed for over 100 years ?

As for those that do not want the intended night flights to carry out an invasion of their sleep, not that it will, disperse huge amounts of pollution, no more than having hundreds of lorries carrying the items from abroad off the ferry terminal, while on the subject of the ferry terminal I can hear the Tannoy system and noise of the ships being loaded/unloaded from my house, do I ask that it is closed or has restricted working hours no. I understand that the ferries bring cargo into the UK and thus to our shops etc. Also they create jobs that outweigh the noise pollution.

Ramsgate Railway Station is another location  of noise, I can hear the Tannoy system and announcements and the trains with their flat spots on the wheels, loud horns and squealing brakes but I do not ask that the railway be closed  ? No once again I understand that this is an integral part of our community that serves us by allowing locals to commute to their chosen occupations while bringing in people to work or holiday in our local towns thus bringing in revenue to local businesses.   

I do wonder how many people actually own their own houses and live on the flight path that are so negative to the night flights, The labour increase would be highly beneficial to an area that has so little employment, giving many types of careers for lots of different people and this will be part time full time and shift work.

I look forward to hearing your answers and thoughts.

Kind Regards

Mr Porter.

Comments

[pedant]

Good point - but 'hear' (first line) is auditory - whilest 'here' is all about location.
Sorry, I just can't help myself.
[corrected - thank you. dictation software + sloppy proofing.]

[Igloo]

I own my house, live on the flight path and am in full-time work, earning more than the national average wage. I have to travel to get work but that's what people do when they really want a job. There are four working people in my house and the money we spend helps to support the economy of the town. If these night flights go ahead I will be moving out and I won't move to another property in Thanet. At the Chatham House School meeting, I met many well-paid working people like me who need their sleep and won't be able to live in a town which is blighted by the noise of night-flights.

Hopefully, Mr. Porter is intellient enough to see that an exodus of the residents who can afford to go elsewhere, is going to have a negative economic impact on the area. The creation of a few low-paid, part-time posts for baggage-handlers and grease monkeys won't be enough to compensate for the loss of the earners who currently support the local economy.

[only fools]

Mr Porter you must have excellant hearing, to hear ramsgate harbour & ramsgate station @ the same time, where do you live, i think your telling a few porkys mr porter.

[Restless in Ramsgate]

Oh Mr Porter! Dear oh dear. Yes, to answers 1 and 2. And both answers could change depending on the outcome of this sorry saga, leaving the area short of another person thus far committed to living, working and investing here.

No 3 - we'd live in a pretty peculiar democracy if one could only have a say on issues with which one had direct working experience. I expect you have an opinion on all sorts of matters relating to industries and sectors in which you've no experience.

No. 4 - yes, I knew there was an airport here - one that had no scheduled night flights. It's a simple as that. I am protesting about a proposed intensification that legal judgements have already said should trigger a proper planning process and which should involve a full Environmental Impact Assessment as is the case for other UK airports. Doesn't this seem reasonable? Your argument about ferries and trains suggests that you don't live under the flight path as the noise simply isn't comparable.

Also, your argument about economic benefit is clearly true for both the port and the station but not for the airport. When Wandsworth Council took Heathrow to the European Court of Human Rights in 2001 the court ruled that the UK government was wrong to place economic benefit over the human right to a decent night's sleep. That ruling was subsequently overturned as the government was able to demonstrate the economic benefit TO THE NATION that Heathrow represented (there are plenty who who would argue with that overruling but let's stick with it for the moment).

In no way has Manston or TDC been able to produce any evidence of economic benefit to the area and the recent independent report comprehensively rubbished the exaggerated claims of Manston regarding jobs etc. There is no argument. Rather, the people of Ramsgate are to be sacrificed so that an organisation that loses over £5million annually can dangle the prospect of unfettered access for cargo planes through the night to airlines that are denied access elsewhere.

[GR]

Nothing to add really.

Perhaps Mr Oh Dear changed his mind and didn't go to warmer climes.!