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

Mayor Green’s alerted me that the tax-take for each of the Thanet towns is about £16M each. Clearly there are serious problems in Margate with the collapse of Dreamland and Cliftonville over the years and now accelerating. The only hope seems more public funds to build a Tesco. But have our politicians simply been spending District funds for their own towns and neglecting the other towns? Hence Ramsgate with the folly of the Granville, more and more car parks to view fewer and fewer attractions, and waterfalls filled with concrete to save funds or “generate income for the public sector”. I thought all public services were free in this country. Not merely creeping charges for civil service salaries or failures. No wonder we have 6M civil servants in the UK. There seems no understanding that bureaucracy by its very nature is waste. And where it is required it’s a service. Add in the Margate-isation of the tourist centres: simply closong Ramsgate and Broadstairs to expand Margate and it’s...

Infratil’s junior CEO at Kent Manston is returning to NZ as the link below after public protests over night flights and pollution including the removal of the air and noise monitors for an airport slated for expansion. http://www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/Airport-chief-executive-returns-to-New-Zealand-newsinkent32138.aspx?news=local Looks like this airport below may provide a new opportunity: sounds like a rerun of Manston: ex-airforce base, compliant local council, assurances of no pollution etc. http://www.infratil.com/content/view/1924/106/ Thanet now has a 11 year health gap compared to the rest of Kent - and air quality similar to London for a small rural town. My favourite bit of Infratil to date was the green part of the Masterplan with dumped jumbo jets as roosts for bats. Amazing. Although the difference between a Dcb and a Leq rating is also very clever bullshot. Clearly Matt was a very nice chap though as he told us of investments in radar, safeguards for water pollution, exc...

The Gazette this week provides lots of details on the various pollution spots around the area. It seems astonishing that TDC haven’t been able to provide this monitoring at all. Except of course by the deliberate removal of the noise and air monitors by TDC with Infratil. Not just under Matt Clarke but previously with Rowland Gunn one of Infratil’s Board Directors removing noise monitors as far back as October 2006 – for an airport slated for expansion and with the KCC USA flights just 3 months away. We even had the downplaying of monitoring under Planestation and EUJet and the rushed consultations breaching the 106 guidelines and TDC’s policies. Clearly some of the Thanet pollution will relate to cars. Like anywhere with cars. But the pollution levels are so high: on a par with major industrial towns such as London or Manchester that it couldn’t be down to cars. Pollution that – even without Manston expanding – breaches the EU guidelines on air pollution. And all with noise and air mo...

I've had a note that BBCTV are to investigate Thor mercury at Margate and how the site never closed. And with over 20x the legal limit of mercury. Also a note from the head of Nature England that there is no outfall of pollution from Manston into Pegwell Bay. Funny. As every other agency and Infratil itself confirmed there is. And that the Jet petrol station on the floodline had a petrol leak 2 years ago. And we have nothing from our MP's, councillors or civil servants. No statements, no inquiry, no cleanup reports, no regular items at council meetings. Mere coverup and delay and hope the problem goes away and their pension and careers don't suffer. In fact statements from both MP's that there was no problem and the factory and airport were well-managed and the clouds of toxic smoke from the chemical fire were no concern. It was a fire at a factory supposedly closed 20 years ago and now has 20x the mercury limit in the soil and water. Perhaps the public sector is meant ...

I've received a letter from MOD Manston via the Fire Base at Hampshire detailing operations at the Fire School under FOI and EIR freedom of information. In 2009 there were 1,009 fires at MOD Manston for firefighter training. About 92,500 litres of foam concentrate was used. Interestingly there was £17k of non-MOD revenue and and a cost of the water of £36k. The water and foam runoff was drained into the sewerage system. Foam wasn't used on any grassed areas and - gulp - monitoring was undertaken by TDC and Amanda Berry. They only use aviation fuel and wood and don't burn cars or aircraft. I'd have thought burning aircraft was the point otherwise the normal Fire Training would be used? Seems daft to burn aviation fuel on the water supply even with safeguards. I've also received another note from Brian Gibson the air quality officer for Kent at Dover Council regarding the removal of the benzene monitor at Kentmere Avenue. A removal authorised by Amanda and supervised ...

"From 1978 monitoring by British health inspectors showed environmental health problems and poisonings at the Margate plant. The findings of the UK health and safety executive indicated that the health of British workers was being negatively affected. A 1981 inspection at the UK plant found airborne levels of mercury 20 times higher than the acceptable limit, and in 1983 another inspection at the UK plant found the same high levels persisting. By 1987, the health and safety executive, which was still finding unacceptable levels at the Margate plant, issued an ultimatum to Thor—to either clean up or face court action (UK health and safety executive 1994). That year Thor discontinued its mercury operations in the UK but its South African mercury processing operations continued." http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-138117-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html Silence from Thanet's MP's. Silence from Thanet's councillors and civil servants. Silence. Because Thor Margate never closed. For 20 years...

Friday’s Gazette details the high levels of nitrogen dioxide around St Lawrence High Street (under the landing flightpath) requiring an Air Quality Management Area and the resulting asthma and lung problems. 18 months to prepare the plan – and then however long to implement it and then report it on it of course means lots more continued asthma and lung problems and early deaths. What has happened to the air monitoring at Manston? Gone the way of Brian White’s noise-monitoring-by-not-noise-monitoring? It’s clear the politicians and civil servants have quietly agreed not to bother with monitoring while the airport expanded – and the death rate climbed. Here’s a very sensible quote though from Cllr Liz Green: “I find this extremely worrying and I am quite shocked. It is known that residents living near busy roads are particularly affected by this pollution. Part of my concern is that long-term exposure can decrease lung function and increase the risk of respiratory symptoms, acute bronchi...