You say (28)

#Manston #nightflights

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We are against the proposal to allow night flights from Manston Airport as it will disturb our sleep. We occasionally hear aircraft at night as it is and are dreading a time when this may become a regular occurrence. I have a disabling illness and do not need any extra stress.

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Dear Sirs,

I am writing to voice my opposition to night flights (between 11pm and 7am) to and from Manston. I live under the approach from the west in Herne Bay.

The first house I owned was on a busy street in Northfleet which was, like most roads, quiet at night. At about between 5-6 am traffic started moving so it was impossible to get good quality sleep after this disturbance started. It wasn't until I moved to a quieter location that I realised I was getting better and longer sleep and how much better I felt as a result. Presumably my health would have suffered had I remained at Northfleet. With this in mind, I know I have had firsthand experience of having noise disturbed sleep, and allowing night flights would cause disturbed sleep to many with the resulting reduction in health and quality of life for them.

I have heard of an offer that some houses will be insulated against the noise - but many sleep with windows open for a lot of the year and in summer it will be unbearable so I don't believe there is any truly effective form of insulation available.

I am broadly in favour of expanding the operations at Manston for people to enjoy the economic benefits that it will bring. I also understand the argument that an airline may be tempted to operate from Manston if planes can land after 11pm if they are genuinely late, but I have not heard any talk about defining what "Genuine" means and how it could be enforced, so I believe with the way things are at present, any relaxation of times would be abused.  

I mainly believe the deterioration of the quality of life that many will suffer if night flights are allowed, is not acceptable and this health consideration should not take second place to the economics argument.

I hope my comments help in obtaining a correct decision for the future of Manston

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I am against Manston Night Flights. I am against night flights because I am 12 twelve years old and I need my sleep. I have been woken before by night flights, my Dad has complained lots because when I am tired I don't want to go to school.

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I have been complaining over a number of years about being woken at night by flights from Manston and the distress it causes in my household. When awoken at night all members of my family have not just their sleep ruined but the following days disrupted due to being tired. The level of noise is so excessive I have resorted to sending emails to successive council leaders resulting in a noise monitor recently being situated on my roof. The readings from this expose the airport for the misinformation they put out about the level of suffering residents will be exposed to. What I find particularly shocking is that the airports proposals are based on assumptions rather than factual evidence i.e. 3:30am flight and 4:30 flight both recorded at 100+db by the council - the airport’s noise maps do not reflect this.

The council is aware the noise levels are so high that they are damaging to the health and well being of those exposed to it. To permit this would be wilful negligence by the council.

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Click to have your say in the Public Consultation on Night Flights

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Manston night flights – the way I see it !!

I would like to add my name to the ‘No night flights from Manston’ list. Infratil seem intent on wrecking my quality of life and my right to a good night’s sleep which they take for granted. Obviously sleep for others is to be a luxury and is less important than profits. Nothing is offered in return other than a pipe dream of additional jobs to local residents hungry for employment and who would agree to anything. They do guarantee however, screaming jet engines at regular intervals, at night, while many try to sleep. How many mythical jobs justifies total indifference to so many, including children who have to cope with school next day with little sleep. Why should we have such pressure to agree to night freight that other airports don’t want and for the same reasons. Open a factory or two, less noise and many jobs, all pluses no minuses.

When I considered moving to Ramsgate, Manston was basically an RAF base but as we were not at war aircraft noise, especially at night, was not a problem so I moved in. My calculated decision was sound but I admit I did not look 25 years ahead and the possibility of commercial flights. It’ easy to be wise later.

My decision at the time seems to equate to Infratil deciding to buy Manston without permission for night flights already in place. This seems a little short sighted unless they assumed that getting permission would be just a formality as the locals are desperate for promises of jobs.

The same decision no doubt was made by other Thanet residents before buying their houses. ‘It’s not near the airport so I’ll buy it’ I hear them say. Have they looked into the future? Will someone want to open a disco next door next year? Or perhaps build a Supermarket or sink a mine shaft? Of course not, anyway they would object strongly and would win the day, no doubt about it. Of course if I was invited to give an opinion I could say ‘let these new projects go ahead, it will create jobs, benefit the local economy and doesn’t affect my way of life’. ‘They should have realised these things could happen in the future’. Still no worries, these ideas are not reality so no problems sleeping for them.

Jobs cannot be guaranteed but what is guaranteed is the ruin of many thousands of lives for profit. What jobs there may be in the future’ is nothing but a dream but a dream that many ‘not directly affected’ are happy to welcome. If however there was a guarantee of 1000 jobs to compensate for the noise, I may not like it but at least I could see there would be much to gain to offset the losses. A ‘yes’ decision means Infratil gains all round but many local residents lose. A ‘no’ decision means nobody loses as you can’t lose what you haven’t got. ‘Yes’ decisions won’t be reversible for any reason.

I assume only deaf people should buy the houses on the flight path as otherwise such houses seem pretty useless and should be demolished making way for a blissful airport of tomorrow. Perhaps the council could compulsory purchase all affected houses on the flight path with a view to further expansion?

Finally if it did go ahead and did employ lots of people as promised it could affect the cost of local ‘cheap labour’ for other business men and force labour costs up. Something to think about.

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Click to have your say in the Public Consultation on Night Flights

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