Pictures first, these should expand well if you click on them, Manston at the bottom as it is rather depressing.
My plan today was to try and understand the RSP plans for an
airfreight hub at Manston and to engage in some sort of dialogue with people
who support the plans.
I was assuming that there would be people who were trying to
read the documents and work out what RSP are saying and whether they support
what RSP want to do.
I think the starting point is reading the non-technical
summery, as it opens on the RSP website as pictures of the document I have re
published it online as a document that should open straight away in your
browser as a searchable document here is the link https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_1J5B8dPSIOu6zHFXZaIY6Zi1iO7cXpZ
I have tried opening it in a number of different browsers
and it works OK for me. You can of course go to the RSP website and download it
to your device, which should make it searchable, however opening in your
browser using the link above, means the big computer at Google should help your
device.
The thing that worries me most about this document is that
it says the air pollution from the freight hub will kill people.
Where? I hear you ask. This is a 25 page document numbered
pages 1 to 22 with blue purple and greeny yellow page markers in the top left
hand corner of the pages and it says it on the page RSP have numbered 19, here
is the quote.
“There is health evidence drawn from the scientific
literature that allows potential impacts on mortality and rates of certain
diseases due to changes in noise and air pollutant exposure to be predicted
quantitatively (in numerical terms). The scientific evidence shows that,
depending on the level of noise or air pollution concentration, these may affect
diseases of the heart, lungs and circulation system, mental health and
wellbeing, and the overall risk of premature death. Whether there is a health
risk and the magnitude of any impact on public health depends on the size of change
in noise or air pollution and the population affected.”
Then there is the business with the local plan which RSP are
trying to get rejected, it’s a complex issue and it sounds that if it gets
rejected it will cost TDC which I think translates either into more bill or
less services for us.
Having had a fair amount of unusual internet discussion,
along the lines of – why are you making up this stuff about RSP? – Oh well we’ve
die sometime, I think we need a better local internet forum.
The profusion of local Facebook groups works up to a point, I
think the blogs probably worked better before they were destroyed by the spam commentators,
so any ideas on that one?
The internet is becoming increasingly focused on making
money which doesn’t help.
My guess is that having gone on the internet to find out
about bananas, half an hour of attempts to sell you monkeys can make you a bit
annoyed.
I can't imagine there are many people who have the time or energy to wade through the badly presented guff which RSP have published. The online versions of the documents are unwieldy and don't seem to be put together in any logical order. The complete lack of any form of index makes it impossible to search the documents and, even when I have found relevant sections there is little information of substance. I'm rapidly reaching the conclusion that RSP's documents are intended to give the illusion of an environmental report but do not contain critical information which would be required for a meaningful consultation. I've not been able to find the business plan with details of the size and scale of the development they are proposing, let alone any definitive information about the numbers of night flights which are being planned. On the Manston Pickle Facebook page they have published some very worrying information which shows that RSP is seeking permission for more night flights than Heathrow or Luton.
ReplyDeleteLike you Michael, I'd like somewhere online where the pro's and con's could be discussed. Unfortunately when this has existed it turns into a bun fight with a few people on each side refusing to listen. It would need to be an independent site with someone acting as a moderator. Who would want to take that headache on?
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