Initial observations related to accessing and navigating the
consultation documents published 12th January 2018. Having heard on
Facebook that the documents had been published I went to the RSP website http://rsp.co.uk/ clicked on the documents page http://rsp.co.uk/documents-page/
only to discover the links to the documents weren’t there. This is made even
more confusing as the first link on the page is to the Statement of Community
Consultation 2018 and the documents 01 to 10 underneath it are not dated so my
assumption was that these were the new consultation documents however they
proved to be the documents for the previous 2017 consultation.
I eventually found the links to the 2018 consultation on the
page http://rsp.co.uk/statutory-consultation/
the link from the homepage doesn’t state that this is where the new document
links are to be found.
My main interest in these plans relate to human health
because the previous PEIR clearly stated that the air pollution, particularly
the particulate air pollution would reduce life expectancy. I take this to mean
kill people, so I have written to RSP on several occasions asking for more
details about this.
Instead of replying to my questions and hopefully refuting
that their project would kill people, their replies have been that the
information I want will be published in their future documents.
So I have used my initial search for this information to
discover if the documents are published in a usable and viable way for an
ordinary member of the public locally to be able to use, search and navigate.
The consultation page http://rsp.co.uk/statutory-consultation/
is an ordinary webpage, searchable by pressing Ctrl F and using the search box
that appears it opens quickly and works well on my phone, tablet and laptop.
The first really bad news in terms of internet accessibility
is about half way down this page where it says:-
“On the right hand side of this page you can find
downloadable copies of all of the consultation documents.
To download a document, click the link to view it then click
on the ‘Download PDF’ icon (a white rectangle with a dark grey downwards arrow
inside it) in the grey bar above the document. By downloading the document you
will be able to browse and search it more easily on your device.”
On opening the first document http://rsp.co.uk/documents/consultation/01-an-introduction-to-the-consultation-2018/
it is obvious that this website has issues. page one is the RSP logo and
header, page to is a blank page with the number “2” on it. Page 3 starts about
a quarter of the way down and seems to be repeated further on for instance the
bottom of page 3 is repeated on another page 3 further on in the document. On
page 4 the number starts again at number 1.
My problem is that I would like to search the thousands of
pages of the revised PIER for words like air, pollution, particulate,
mortality, and so on, to see if anyone has found a work around that would stop
their airfreight hub’s fuel burn from killing off local people.
Because of the way the information has been published it
isn’t searchable in the ordinary way, pdf files can only be searched by opening
the file and using the viewer to search for words.
There doesn’t seem to be any index showing which of the
volumes of the PIER document any given piece of information is in so to find
anything you have to open all nine downloaded documents and search them
individually.
To put this into a context that is easy to understand,
suppose you wanted to buy a television from Argos and when you went to the
Argos website there was no pattern of searchable links; technology – sound and
vision – televisions and no search box either. The only way to find all the
televisions Argos had for sale for sale was to download the whole Argos website
in nine separate pdf files and then search each file for the word television.
Some of the content is? er. Interesting
Some of the content is? er. Interesting
"in year 20, significant adverse effects have been identified
as being likely a result of an increase in noise in the following communities
which are in the vicinity of the airport and flight paths: Ramsgate;„ Manston;„ Wade;„ West Stourmouth; and„ Pegwell Bay.„ 1.1.83 In these
communities aircraft noise would increase to the point where there would be a
perceived change in quality of life for occupants of buildings in these
communities or a perceived change in the acoustic character of shared open
spaces within these communities."
Latest books in the bookshop link
I use glasses and a magnifying glass to read you as print small- but not of the essence! If people read your last paragraph certainly interesting if it's in 2020 - not long..Maybe someone will post this more widely. What will PINS think about it .I am more than a bit sceptical about the value of a consultation .Think local groups should ensure PINS is aware .But better if RSPcan say how they propose to abate this nuisance if the quality of life of local communities does arise - it's a reasonable question to ask.
ReplyDeleteHave to agree. The format of the PEIR is appalling. The lack of an index appears to be a deliberate ploy to prevent people from finding the really important stuff. They've ignored TDC's advice on extending the consultation to 6 weeks. It's a disgrace, for a project of this magnitude, they've initiated the consultation on the day they've released the documents and are only intending to run the consultation for 4 weeks. Not sure if it's just me but most of the documents they've produced seem to be padded out with loads blank pages and guff. I'm really struggling to find anything of substance. The "Masterplan" is an absolute joke. Nothing about their plans at all.
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