I notice all three local papers (links on sidebar) have reported the road accident on Ramsgate’s westcliff, three vehicles were involved and an elderly drivers car went over the cliff, he is now seriously ill in hospital. Does anyone have any more information about what happened?There is an amazing aerial photo of Thanet Earth on Thanet Life http://birchington.blogspot.com/ it really shows the enormous scale of the thing.
It is a pity that it involved the desecration of so much prime farmland, I have expressed concerns before about matters relating to surface drainage and pumping so much water adjacent to Monkton Nature Reserve, which I think will dry it out.
What occurred to me looking at the pictures is that the large manmade lakes will attract a lot of waterfowl and that this is probably not such a good idea right at the end of Manston Airport runway.
The planning application number is F/TH/05/0237 because of the cranky way the government planning site is written I can’t link to the plans, so you have to go to the site www.ukplanning.com/thanet and put the application number in the search box to view it.
I have been looking at the plans this morning and I can’t find anything there about the effects of all the open water on Manston airport, have I missed it, can anyone put me right here?
While looking for the application number I stumbled across plans and instructions for assembling a dragon on one of the main Thanet roundabouts see application number F/TH/08/1297 I have to admit to being quite captivated by these. Something that particularly amused me is that it is to be small enough not to distract drivers while large enough to be significant. You couldn’t make it up could you?
Oh yes and the following information from TDCs new knowledge hub website http://www.thanet.gov.uk/council__democracy/thanet_knowledge_hub.aspx
Did you know? Thanet's population was estimated to be 129,200 in 2007. 52.3% of Thanet's population are female, 47.7% are male. Average life expectancy in Thanet is 77. Average life expectancy for females is 80 and males 75. Thanet's population is becoming more diverse. Between 2001 -2005 its black and minority ethnic population has doubled.
We have just had Sunday reflections from Paul Carter on the BBC Politics Show regarding the Manston Airport expansion that he is so keen on. He says that there is no local opposition to such a plan as it will create much needed jobs. Now, I dont live in East Kent but I cant believe that all Thanet residents are backing him. So what is the current picture?
ReplyDelete13.12 The main issue with the airport has to be a proper assessment to resolve the issue of the drinking water aquifer being permanently damaged by a fuel spillage, caused by an air crash on the grass part of the airfield.
ReplyDeleteAt the moment it’s just an unresolved issue with Southern Water saying that the aquifer is essential and Manston having a digger to deal with small spillages.
There is also the matter of aircraft noise and pollution, with a lot of people not wishing to live under a low-level flight path. In most places major airport expansion would be subject to a public enquiry, here in Thanet local government appears to represent the interests of some of our local politicians more than local people.
Anon 13 12
ReplyDeletePaul Carter's comment is rather revealing even if he did not intend it to be.
The fallacy that opposition can be bought off by the prospect of jobs.
Recent FOI revealations inform us about the poor standard of aquifer, due to contamination. This has done one thing but should have done two things. Firstly it has largely silenced those who thought aquifer arguments were opportunist scaremongering. What the revelation (470 tonnes of cyclohexanone leaked into aquifer over thirty years) has failed to do is to shift the focus in people and planner minds.
The situation, if there is spillage at Manston, is not of an incident which would introduce contamination to the aquifer. The aquifer has de facto contamination already. The risk assessment must take into account the consequences of aggravating the existing situation.
anon 13:12, yes, he mentions no opposition, yet the response time for the airport "masterplan" lapses on 19th Dec. Surely Paul Carter isn't that cosy to private business he can see the results of public consulations that havent finished yet?
ReplyDeleteopposition is strong, plentiful, and coming back to Paul Carter and infratil in spades for their total disregard for local residents living under the flightpath.
I've just seen his comments on bbci player. what a pr1ck.
and infratil europe is doing so well its pi$$ed NZ$6mm (£ 2.25mm) up the wall in the first 6 months of this financial yeat, citing "major loss of freight services" as a reason in its summary.
ReplyDeleteFound here. http://www.infratil.com/content/view/2539/1/
what a great asset we have
I begin to understand why a number of Cllrs have said that this 'agri-industrial' site slipped under the radar! I have visited the planning site you quoted and I see no environmental impact assessment or any details of HGV movements, comments by EA or KCC Highways. What is the proposed HGV movements per day from and to this site? I am flabbergasted to read that screening planting programmes are not required to be planted until the greenhouses are 'operational' not in the planting sesaon after construction has begun. So presumably, no screening planting will occur until Nov 2009?
ReplyDelete