Time for Change: Campaign for an Independent Green Thanet MP and Ramsgate Mayor

To put the danger in the reduction of air monitoring at Manston here’s a link to a diffusion tube: http://cambridge.org/us/engineering/author/nellisandklein/downloads/examples/EXAMPLE_9.4-1.pdf As you can see they are literally a 7cm test tube that’s exposed for a month to record any air pollution. As they’re the simplest – and cheapest – way to sample air pollution they’re usually used in large quantities and mainly for roadside fumes and pollution at a busy crossroads or junction. Manston has 3 of these. 2 in Manston village and 1 in Minster. You wouldn’t use just 3 diffuser tubes or sites would you? And all aligned in parallel with the runway rather than under each end where the planes land? The more detailed air monitor in Kentmere Avenue, Ramsgate - directly at the end of the runway, the end where planes aren’t supposed to land anyway in the 106 - was turned off 2 months ago and TDC state that “even with increased traffic (at the airport) it will not be reactivated”. And notes tha...

It gets worse. I’ve received the latest air monitoring from KIACC. The significance of the report is that the UK limit is 40 g/m for all the nasty emissions like benzene etc, and in 2008 the average at Manston (with poor monitoring) was 31 m/g – an airport expansion at Manston can only be achieved by not monitoring the increase in air pollution. The Kentmere monitor was also switched off in Aug 09 due to poor data capture etc – again poor monitoring. In 2006 the central Ramsgate monitors were removed from the tower block and school and never replaced by Brian or Richard or Sandy or Roger. The mobile monitor has never been provided after several years Why switch off Kentmere and have no mobile monitor in the towns – making weak monitoring worse? With Thanet having the highest lung cancer rate in Kent already it looks like our politicians and civil servants are keeping their heads down and trying to make it worse. No votes in deliberately poisoning your own citizens - not this side of Na...

Trying to develop an airport by fudging or removing all the safety measures. Why would you do that? I can understand Infratil doing it: careers to be made, profits, promotion. I can possibly understand a civil servant doing that: careers to be made etc. But why would local councillors and civil servants want to do that? Jobs for the area? OK. I can understand that. But pollution jobs? Bit of political or civil service brown-nosing for County. I can understand that. But here’s what I don’t understand. You wouldn’t remove the noise and air monitors would you? And then if you did, you wouldn’t refuse to put them back would you? That would be: no monitors, no data, no problem as the death rate spirals. That’s what noise and air monitors are for aren’t they? To flag up any dangerous pollution levels? At an airport. They’re not optional are they? And then to cap it you wouldn’t try to expand the airport again would you? Still without noise and air monitoring. That would be deliberately and k...

Mike Fuller the Chief Officer of Kent Police has been making a few enquiries around the questions raised in Kent on Sunday over Manston: What Police safety procedures are in place at Manston airport in the event of a crash on the water supply? Mr Fuller: Air travel is one of the safest forms of transport both for passenger and for freight flights. Before an airport is licensed its management have to meet very high safety standards, and their ability to provide these is regularly checked. Kent Police are identified as the lead emergency service and have officers who have specific areas of expertise that enable them to deal with any crisis. Our preparations are built around regular exercises with other emergency services and agencies which test those plans to the limit. As part of that we do prepare for the crash of an aircraft and the contamination of nearby water supplies. The critical role is knowing what to do immediately after any disaster, and the rigorous and repeated testing of o...

Seeing the national parties at work I can’t help but think that they’re so similar now that you could lump them together and have one fairly good main party with maybe 3 or 4 smaller offshoots. Rather than 3 large and bland copycat parties. New Labour as Thatcher-lite, Cameron Tories as New Labour-lite and Libdems as a bit of everything. Cameron’s raised some sensible points recently on curbing civil service salaries – but aren’t councillors meant to do that? – and publishing accounts and payroll for councils and quangos – but doesn’t that happen anyway? – and cutting MP’s by 10% or c.60 seats. Personally I’d slash MP’s to 400 seats and 200 in the Lords, slash quangos which are simply more civil servants in new guises and limit civil service departments except by Parliamentary Act. And ban Party whips except on national security issues. We seem to have failed financial services and failed governance and regulation. None of the parties seems able to reduce public sector bloat or improve...

I hope the Ramsgate ferry happens: congratulations to anyone of any party that makes it happen. 20 years and counting. This year and counting. Certainly a far better idea than the silly “new town centre” of a shopping centre with in-fill houses on farmland near-the-town-centres at Westwood. Thanet’s looking more like a polluted, derelict and burned down version of Milton Keynes every day. If the ferry doesn’t happen before the election then I will help drive it through from Parliament - and in the meantime instigate a minibus/passenger service that drives onto the existing TEF ferry. I’d also throw out any silly road closure filming bills from County hall: isn’t the County meant to open and close County roads and if they’re not then who is responsible for existing closures of the County’s roads for festivals etc with KCC’s £2bn budget (and a £100M Highways budget) and no meetings in September because they had nothing to do after the councillors awarded themselves a pay rise the previou...

Hello. This is a TDC and Manston public announcement. As Chief Executive of Thanet Council I understand there are public concerns over TDC’s role in developing the airport and I wanted to use this opportunity to put one or two matters straight. It ain’t me. I had nuffink to do wiv it. I saw some papers but I don’t remember. It was Brian White wot done it. He can change his job title and department name and everyfing . But he done it. He removed them noise and air monitors. It ain’t me. Not never. I am sure. Not when I was Chair of KIACC. And not as CEO of TDC. I ain’t done it. Since 2006. I ain’t done nuffink. It was Brian. He never told me or nuffink. It was Brian. And even if I did I don’t remember nuffink. Besides Ladyman and Gale never said nuffink neither. And they knew too. Although I knew nuffink. And if people are dead well that’s their problem. I sign the papers and read the memos. And that means it ain’t nuffink to do with me. And besides since when did airports have to have ...

At last the minutes and webpage is available from Ramsgate Town Council today - the old “get the info out the day before the meeting tomorrow” trick it seems, partial/fudged minutes etc etc – and it seems impossible for the public to add items to the agenda such as Pleasurama, Thor, Richboro, Infratil etc. Anyone going to RTC’s 4th meeting tomorrow (7pm at Albion House, Ramsgate's Town Hall) may want to ask questions on Thor, Richboro, Infratil, Pegwell, lung cancer, early death rate, derelict buildings, £60M tax-take and £22M salaries at TDC rather than some of the ceremonial aspects. Whoops – a couple of points of correction on the latest minutes: # no mention of Thor mercury # the jet dumping ground is a fact not potential: 6 dumped jumbo jets and a 7th removed at Xmas after being dumped for 10 years # Noise monitoring inefficient – as it was removed, and still no air monitors nor mobile monitors # no mention of TDC/RTC payroll/costs for review # all RTC info is open to public a...

A report in Thanet Extra (page 2) on the “Thanet cesspit” that is the pollution in Pegwell bay one of the worst 2% of polluted rivers in UK. http://www.thanetepaper.co.uk/index.aspx The report correctly highlights the much tougher punishments elsewhere in Europe for deliberate pollution. Geoff Wild the KCC legal and flytipping expert has repeatedly refused to remove the dumped jumbo jets at Manston: ask him yourself: geoff.wild@kent.gov.uk Brian White and Richard Samuel for years have refused to provide noise and air monitors that would record the aviation fuel onto the sea: ask them yourself brian.white@thanet.gov.uk and richard.samuel@thanet.gov.uk They are available for question son 13th October at the Pavillion Broadstairs to discuss 7,500 extra housebuilding in Thanet. While Infratil and Matt Clarke continue to dump aviation fuel into the outflow system that feeds into the Kent Highways road drainage and dumps straight into Pegwell Bay. Approved by Brian White. And the Environmen...