I am writing to you in relation to your proposed DCO of the land presently owned by Stone Hill Park (previously Manston Airport), which aims to establish a Cargo Hub and smaller passenger service with night flights included.
I live on the Nethercourt Estate in Ramsgate, which lies under the direct flight path of the former Manston Airport.
I attended the RSP consultation meeting recently.
My concerns are the amount of flights that are being proposed, both day and night, would have a devastating effect on both Ramsgate and the local area.
The consultation was very poorly executed, when we asked about night flights we were given contradictory answers.
We had a letter from RSP about the consultation, only to find that this was not distributed to the whole area that would be affected by the re-opening of the Manston airport and the noise and pollution that would be generated.
The time given to the meeting in Ramsgate was 4 hours, but in the surrounding villages and towns it was 6 hours. Seems that they didn’t want many people to attend the Ramsgate meeting.
The estimation on the jobs that will be created seems to be greatly exaggerated.
The area has greatly improved since the closure of the former airport. Tourism has improved and many businesses have invested money in the area.
Our quality of life has improved since the airport closed. We are once again able to enjoy the outside world without being deafened by the noise of aeroplanes. My health has improved with the improvement of air quality.
If passed, this would be a disaster for the area with the noise and pollution.

The Planning Inspectorate cannot consider objections to a proposal at the Pre-application stage of the Planning Act 2008 (PA2008) process. For information about when and how to register as an Interested Party in the Examination (if an application is submitted and the Secretary of State decides that it is of a satisfactory standard to be examined), please see Advice Note Eight here: attachment 1
There is also no mechanism through which the Planning Inspectorate can influence an Applicant’s consultation at the Pre-application stage of the PA2008 process.
If you have not done so already, please provide your comments to the Applicant and your local authority. Local authorities have a special role in the PA2008 process, which I explain in the content of this advice.
The PA2008 places a number of duties on Applicants in respect of Pre-application consultation and all applications for development consent must be accompanied by a ‘Consultation Report’. The Consultation Report is prepared under section 37 of the PA2008 and must give details of:
a) what has been done in compliance with sections 42, 47 and 48 of the PA2008 in relation to an application;
b) any relevant responses; and
c) the account taken of any relevant responses.
In the Acceptance period (ie the 28 days following the formal submission of an application) the Planning Inspectorate will scrutinise all of the application documents, including the evidence provided in the Consultation Report, applying the statutory tests set out in s55 of the PA2008. By the end of the Acceptance period the Planning Inspectorate (on behalf of the Secretary of State) must decide, in accordance with the tests in s55 of the PA2008, whether or not an application is of a satisfactory standard to be examined.
In reaching the above decision, s55(4) makes explicit that the Planning Inspectorate must have regard to the Consultation Report and any Adequacy of Consultation Representations made by local authority consultees. Adequacy of Consultation Representations are defined by s55(5) of the PA2008 as representations about whether the applicant complied with its duties under sections 42, 47 and 48. They are requested from all relevant local authorities on receipt of an application for development consent.
To that end, in providing your comments to your local authority they may be considered in the Council’s preparation of its Adequacy of Consultation Representation; if an application is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate.
In respect of night flights, the Planning Inspectorate has access to the same information as the local community and statutory consultees ie the Applicant’s Scoping Report states at paragraph 11.6.10 that “The airport will be operational during the day and may be operational to some extent at night. The noise generated due to this activity may give rise to potentially significant effects”. If night flights are proposed for the airport, the likely significant effects will need to be assessed by the Applicant as part of its Environmental Impact Assessment and presented in the Environmental Statement
Please send any future email correspondence about the Proposed Development to [email protected]