Tuesday 26 October 2010

Night Flights Public Consultation Meeting

As no one else seems to have posted about this, here we go.

Dave Green mayor of Ramsgate has put the following on Facebook:

“Thank you to the 400 or so Ramsgate residents that attended the Town Council's "Night Flight" consultation meeting. Points needing consideration included:
More evidence of the true net economic benefit of the airport.
Resolution of the problems surrounding enforcement of the existing 106
The impact of Public Safety Zones
The need for accurate noise contours
Windfarms and Radar
Health effects of night flights”

I didn’t go to the meeting, so there isn’t much I can say about it but will add anything I find out.

19 comments:

  1. From HEATHROW NIGHT FLIGHTS

    "For the first time the Government will be required to measure aviation noise at night. This is a requirement of the 2002 European Noise Directive. The Directive doesn’t set noise levels. But the World Health Organisation (WHO) has come up with recommended levels. It says that at night the maximum noise from a passing aircraft should be no more than 60 decibels. That would rule out all night flights at Heathrow. The Government has signed up to the WHO recommendations. It should either adhere to them or explain why it is bypassing them."

    TDC consultation details show
    Manston Airport Approach runway 28 - Boeing 737-800 subjecting Central Ramsgate to 85,90,95 dB

    Bearing in mind the Decibel scale is logarithmic, this is horrendously excessive.

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  2. Noise Pollution
    from: Columbia Encyclopedia

    Human-created noise harmful is to health or welfare. Transportation vehicles are the worst offenders, with aircraft, railroad stock, trucks, buses, automobiles, and motorcycles all producing excessive noise. Construction equipment, e.g., jackhammers and bulldozers, also produce substantial noise pollution. Noise intensity is measured in decibel units. The decibel scale is logarithmic; each 10-decibel increase represents a tenfold increase in noise intensity. Human perception of loudness also conforms to a logarithmic scale; a 10-decibel increase is perceived as roughly a doubling of loudness. Thus, 30 decibels is 10 times more intense than 20 decibels and sounds twice as loud; 40 decibels is 100 times more intense than 20 and sounds 4 times as loud; 80 decibels is 1 million times more intense than 20 and sounds 64 times as loud. Distance diminishes the effective decibel level reaching the ear. Thus, moderate auto traffic at a distance of 100 ft (30 m) rates about 50 decibels. To a driver with a car window open or a pedestrian on the sidewalk, the same traffic rates about 70 decibels; that is, it sounds 4 times louder. At a distance of 2,000 ft (600 m), the noise of a jet takeoff reaches about 110 decibels—approximately the same as an automobile horn only 3 ft (1 m) away.

    Subjected to 45 decibels of noise, the average person cannot sleep. At 120 decibels the ear registers pain, but hearing damage begins at a much lower level, about 85 decibels. The duration of the exposure is also important. There is evidence that among young Americans hearing sensitivity is decreasing year by year because of exposure to noise, including excessively amplified music. Apart from hearing loss, such noise can cause lack of sleep, irritability, heartburn, indigestion, ulcers, high blood pressure, and possibly heart disease. One burst of noise, as from a passing truck, is known to alter endocrine, neurological, and cardiovascular functions in many individuals; prolonged or frequent exposure to such noise tends to make the physiological disturbances chronic. In addition, noise-induced stress creates severe tension in daily living and contributes to mental illness.

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  3. From the information above, I interpret that a 90dB flight over Ramsgate is 10 times the recommended maximum 60 dB noise level set by the World Health Organisation. (WHO)

    Is this correct???? (if so it is unacceptable)

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  4. NO!, I have got it wrong.

    90 decibels is 1000 times more intense than 60dB and sounds 16 times as loud

    (Sorry to take up so much space Michael)

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  5. As a resident of Boredstairs, Bring on the night flights!!!

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  6. Anonymous, I take it you subscribe to the Thatcherite view that there is "no such thing as society" or community in this case.

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  7. You broadstairs B*****d! I hope something happens to you that ruins your life!

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  8. Dear anonymous I agree with your sentiments however the Boredstairs blue rinsers are just self interested in getting their cheap flights to offshore tax havens!!!!

    Anonymous 2

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  9. I'm at a loss as to understand the comment and tone of anonymous of Broadstairs. Why on earth would take this attitude? You seem to be implying that it is perfectly alright to ruin the lives of 30,000 residents so long as they are not Broadstairs residents. Is this how you feel? Night flights, noisy old cargo planes bringing mainly chopped fruit from Ghana and Kenya, bring no benefit to Broadstairs unless you are truly incapable of dicing some fruit (And hey, why not go for some home-grown fruit instead?). If the airport can't make Manston successful without night flights, as London City airport and others manage to do, then it should just concede defeat. Let's have a bit more community spirit and think about what's good for the whole of Thanet, eh?

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  10. Lives will not be ruined by a handful of flights every night. I wish Ramsgatians would stop moaning about it. Just let a few movement happen, you'll get used to it and Thanet will benefit :)
    This 'old noisy freight jets' thing just doesn't add up, there is no evidence of who will be flying the aircraft in.

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  11. actually as anonymous of boredstairs , I hate ramsgate, and have done since 1972, when you stopped us having an olympic swimming pool, so get lost and get your just reward!!ramsgate

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  12. "Lives will not be ruined by a handful of flights every night"

    You're incredibly naive if you think the number of flights will remain at that level.

    "Just let a few movement happen, you'll get used to it and Thanet will benefit"

    You're also amazingly naive if you actually believe that Thanet will benefit. There is no evidence whatsoever that expansion of Manston will benefit Thanet.

    Ignorance and greed. That's all we have here.

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  13. No cargo currently flys at night because there isn't the cargo! We aren't suddenly gonna need extra planes full of 40 tons of bananas just because they can. The hours are for aircraft that currently come in during the day that may be delayed in some way.

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  14. 09:34 this clearly happens anyway, so what's your point...but then your observations are as pointless as the Airport, its blot and blight on the landscape!!

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  15. My point is that you'll get no more late flights than you get now. The airline won't be fined any more though as the flights won't be breaking any rules. There are for more things to complain about in Ramsgate than the odd late airbus!

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  16. Ditto re anonymous from Broadstairs

    From Anonymous of Margate

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  17. Them bradstonions may not share the noise,but as the prevailing wind is SW they will get their share of the nitrogen dioxide.
    Stargazer

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  18. I am sure quite a few Ramsgationians are quite happy to poison themselves with nicotine and alcohol but still complain about a tiny bit of avtur fume is the air!

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  19. What the Thanet inbreds posting on here dont realise is that the "rest of the world" has rules which also apply in Thanet.

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