Heathrow and Manston expansion and fake monitors

The Sunday Times (page 15) details how the Dept of Transport and BAA the owners of Heathrow colluded to "fix" data: BAA executives prevented the use of data that showed Heathrow expansion would cause unlawful levels of noise and air pollution - and BAA even used the emissions data of a non-existent "virtual" jumbo jet to reduce noise and pollution figures.

Clearly similar with Infratil removing noise monitors at Manston in 2006 - yet this never being mentioned by Messrs White and Samuel in the monitoring information presented to KIACC for 3 years - and still to this day.

And with even the removal of the benzene monitor last Summer at the time of the night flights announcements it's clear that the same sort of collusion has been going on.

And with refusing to enforce the overflights ban or Infratil waiving the restrictions on loop training flights themselves, the result is the same collusion that has created unacceptable levels of noise and air pollution endangering the public.

We now have "Air Quality management areas" or "pollution blackspots" for road traffic under the flightpath but no enforcedment of the existing 106 regulations.

So Thanet has the highest levels of lung cancer - almost on a par with Heathrow.

And no mention at all of the runway being on top of the polluted drinking water supply.

The only question now is: why are Messrs Samuel and White still employed by the taxpayer and why are the Police not investigating this matter.

A criminal inquiry is already planned for the Heathrow cover-up.

But no extra planes flew or faked consultations happened at Heathrow. Just at Manston.

No flight routes were breached at Heathrow. Just Manston.

I don't remember civil servants being paid to endanger the public through removing monitoring and faking figures - and at an airport scheduled for expansion.

If anything the monitoring would be increased wouldn't it? Unless there's been a cosy agreement to not bother about the "health impacts" or "cancer" or "asthma" or any of the other diseases.

In fact we seem to be funding fraudulent 0% pay increases to endanger the public and pollute Thanet by two already very highly paid and pensioned civil servants.

Silence from Gale: even supporting a parkway station for Manston
Silence from Carter
Silence from Ladyman
Silence from Sandys
Silence from 56 councillors

A deafening silence.

We seem to have elected and paid-for puppets looking to create vanity projects or "quick-fix" white elephants at the expense of the public and environment.

Time for Change

New Infratil. Same Infratil. Pollution and cancer.

To: mclarke@infratilairports.com;
twilson@infratilairports.com
Cc: brazierj@parliament.uk;
ladymans@parliament.uk;
ellmanl@parliament.uk

Date: Monday, 22 March, 2010, 1:06

Hi Matt

I'm not sure if you're still in the UK but I've not
heard back on these points?

There's a front cover newspaper article on the dangers
of air pollution and links to asthma, cancer etc here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/britain-a-breath-of-foul-air-1924790.html

Clearly aviation directors in a large aviation company
could hardly be unaware of the cancer risk etc and requirement for monitoring.

Tom, congratulations on your new role and welcome to
Manston.

I understand that the airport is built on the -
polluted - drinking water supply and there are various repeated breaches of the S106 agreement - can you clarify why planes are repeatedly
landing outside of the specified control times?

Also why planes are repeatedly overflying the towns in
breach of the S106: two flights at least occurred today – including taking off over the towns.

I'm also unclear why Infratil unilaterally changed the S106 agreement to allow "loop" training flights?

It seems as though Infratil have repeatedly and
deliberately breached the various control mechanisms to safeguard the local population and environment.

I'm aware of no political or public decision or vote to allow these repeated breaches.

How will Infratil provide cleanup and compensation?

There is a free health service - funded by the taxpayer - but extra damage from pollution discharge would be an extra burden on it.

Extra mortuaries, body bags, nurse and doctor
assistance would detract from other medical services.

And is a police investigation required on some of
these measures: clearly an aviation company can't fly when and where it likes in the EU - or NZ - or repeatedly breach the safeguards.

That could be corporate manslaughter.

Kindest regards

Tim

> > --- On Fri, 12/2/10, tim garbutt
> > wrote:
> >
> > > From: tim garbutt
> > > Subject: RE: Airport Comments
> > > To: "Matt Clarke"
> > > Cc: brazierj@parliament.uk,
> > ladymans@parliament.uk
> > > Date: Friday, 12 February, 2010, 15:33
> > >
> > > Hi Matt
> > >
> > > We're agreed: Infratil removed the noise monitors
> that
> > were
> > > in place.
> > >
> > > I have a letter confirming that from Rowland
> Gunn.
> > >
> > > You previously said Infratil didn;'t remove the
> > monitors at
> > > an airport scheduled for expansion. You're
> indulging
> > in mere
> > > wordplay to avoid that unpleasant fact.
> > >
> > > The current system with monitors in the back
> garden
> > of
> > > Infratil employees and TDC removing monitors as
> the
> > airport
> > > expands is flimsy to say the least.
> > >
> > > Infratil have provided 3 mobile monitors to TDC?
> When were/are these
> > > operational?
> > >
> > > Your points on the airport not causing pollution
> or
> > cancer
> > > are ludicrous.
> > >
> > > The repeated 106 breaches are ignored: why did
> > Infratil
> > > insigate training flights in breach of the 106?
> > >
> > > The criteria on night flights and QC4 ie jumbo
> jets
> > and
> > > above is equally ludicrous.
> > >
> > > As you've pointed out TDC bear some of the burden
> for failing to
> > > provide accurate and tight monitoring -
> > clealry
> > > both Infratil and TDC have ben in close cahoots
> in minimising fines,
> > > announcing night fligths etc -
> > but
> > > in my opinion Infratil both under your operation
> and previously are
> > > clearly and deliberately endangering
> > the
> > > public with both air, noise and water pollution.
> > >
> > > These facts aren't in dispute merely your
> > self-serving
> > > interpretation of them.
> > >
> > > Again the public response of "disbelief and
> shouts of rubbish from
> > > the floor" seems the best summary of
> > your
> > > arguments.
> > >
> > > Your return to NZ and undoubted collapse of
> Infratil
> > and
> > > Manston heralds a better day for Kent.
> > >
> > > Sadly our incompetent politicians and civil
> servants remain.
> > >
> > > Kindest regards
> > >
> > > Tim

MP election: Stop the pollution. Stop the corruption. Stop the construction.

Many thanks for your kind notes and I can't reply to everyone - and yes I will now stand for election as MP on 6th May.

The platform will be as before plus:

Stop the Pollution:

* close Manston airport
* Thor - publish toxin cleanup details
* Gasworks
* Richboro
* Pegwell Bay
* NHS joint-monitoring of TDC pollution sites

Stop the Corruption:

* fraudulent civil service 0% pay rises
* misuse and incompetent use of public funds by one of Britain's worst councils
* publish the Pleasurama Caribbean tax haven and Swiss Bank contracts
* Sack the Gang of Four and underperforming civil servants and councillors
* publish all £22M civil servant salaries, expenses, cars, pensions and other benefits each month
* end ChinaGate completely and refund the £25k party donations to charity
* end "miniMargateism" - reopen Ramsgate tourist centre and Albion House Town Hall to the public and MP offces upstairs

Stop the Construction:

* halt overdevelopment: new build houses except on brownfield
* end garden grabbing
* halt new road construction
* reverse the dereliction of the town centres
* rollback development at Westwood Cross and introduce parking charges
* expand greenbelt and parks

Here's an article from today's Independent on Sunday on air pollution in the UK -clearly the collusion by civil servants and our councillors and MP's to expand Manston has seriously endangered the health of many members of the public.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/britain-a-breath-of-foul-air-1924790.htm

I urge restraint while we await explanations on why monitors were removed and not replaced, why there are repeated breaches of the 106 airport regulations and consultations and why the airport is still allowed to pollute the drinking water supply - and why after months and years our councillors, civil servants and MP's remain silent.

Stop the Pollution. Stop the Corruption. Stop the Construction.

Time for Change.

MP election

I'm withdrawing from the election and best wishes to the other candidates and public.

Lots of dog dirt and lorries... but no tourists

Just as well.

The latest sign on Ramsgate Tourism Office is that it closes completely on 27th March.

That’s good isn’t it?

Who’d have thought that towns like Margate or Broadstairs or Ramsgate would be seaside towns with a tourism industry?

And with a tourist office already there then it’s best to close it.

The Gang of Four have simply collapsed into cuts everywhere except civil servants and tax-salaries.

Just as Broadstairs Tourist Office was “improved” by being relocated by a betting shop and a leaflet stand shoved into the Dickens Museum, then so Ramsgate’s is now “improved” by being closed.

And where are the Tourist staff being relocated to?

Margate.

We have the Gang of Four pretending to run a District but mere mini-Margate-ism.

And that done badly.

Towns of jerrycan regeneration and dog-dirt attractions.

Could our councillors and MP’s and civil servants not smell the flames and cack? For 30 years?

£60M of council tax alone sprayed up the wall each and every year.

What has been going on?

This isn’t Socialism or Conservatism – it might be CivilServantism but really it’s just Cretinism.

Failed. Failed. Failed.

Time for Change May 6th

And the Oscar goes to Thanet

It’s worth remembering on Oscar Night the importance of film to the local economy.

Films represent over £7Bn in the US alone – breaking all box office records fro one of the world’s largest industries. Kent has begun to develop the Kent Film Office as a focus to ensure films are made in Kent rather than other Counties. As MP I will ensure this office is brought to Thanet rather than stagnating in West Kent to help stimulate regeneration and ensure Thanet becomes a focus for film and the filmmaking industry.

With embryonic festivals such as the Thanet Film Festival and filmmakers such as Brenda Blethyn, Timothy Spall and Medb Films and productions such as Margate Exodus and Ruby Blue it’s perfectly feasible that Kent becomes a film hub.

The first port of call for casting directors and locating scouts, specific film careers at schools and colleges and industry creating jobs throughout the economy.

As Thanet collapses and burns with contaminated water, failed town planning and mere inaction and incompetence from our politicians and civil servants, we may be far nearer to the plotline of Oscar winners based on eco-crimes such as the contaminated water in Erin Brockovich, or leukaemia in A Civil Action.

------------

Thanet’s main industry at the moment seems to be providing anchorage for cargo ships off Cliftonville – even yesterday there were 3 or four ships close in to the Blue Flag beaches and opposite the Coastguard office. And flotsam and jetsam including 3 HGV tyres used as ballast with the chain. If those are washed ashore imagine the muck from ships cleaning out their tanks and disposing of rubbish or the recent mile-wide oil slick.

While the amount of litter and dog dirt strewn across the cliffs and beaches is astonishing: rusted drinks can, bottles and papers strewn across the cliffs just over the railings and dog muck strewn and skidded across the pavements, broken lampposts, motorway railings and beach huts that are garden sheds and boarded up toilets or builders portaloos for beach toilets.

Dozens of bottles strewn on the cliffs at the seaward side of the Motor Museum and broken shelters opposite the Churchill, half-completed repairs at the Military Arches, a semi-derelict marina and lorries parked along the Undercliff again – for no reason given any potholes are fairly minor and the Port already has 30 Lorry trailers on-site plus dozens of extra spaces and still the recycling bins that were due to be distributed last November.

And two months to repair a dozen potholes? Isn’t that half a day’s work? Maybe a committee, some expenses, a liaison group, strategy documents – it looks like the civil servants are leading our councillors by the nose.

The polished stone benches are still removed from Ramsgate Boulevard along with a tree and metal surround grate and the remaining broken bench smeared in dog dirt. Broken paving stones from Pleasurama still with no tax haven contracts or building plans released: presumably now incorporating an ice rink, built below and away from the cliff and with eco-roofs and rainwater.

A grubby little island. For £60M in tax-take and £22M of that in public sector salaries. Plus VAT and National Tax and Business rates and car tax and windfall tax. Plus the Total Place budgets for Police, NHS, and so on. Even the Government estimates at least 15% of public sector funding is wasted. I’ll bet it’s far more don’t you?

--------

A pension fund for Ramsgate Town Council – shouldn’t all costs be displayed and detailed? Wasn’t money too tight to repair the towns or Albion House but the public are now paying for pensions and allowances?

And aren’t our councillors already duplicates on other bodies such as TDC – we seem to have a hollowing out of democracy of duplication, bloat and failure.

And why are the public and press excluded under 1960’s legislation to hear the costs of the public servants they fund?

With tax taking up over 40% of the economy whichever main party you vote for, the private sector are funding the public sector for the first four months of the year. Or all year round in Thanet it seems.

Public funds seem only designed to fund the civil servants first with an ever larger and lavish admin charge, little frontline delivery and almost no scrutiny of costs.

Why for example have TDC’s councillors never debated TDC’s salary costs or KCC’s salary costs?

Not to even scrutinise salary costs seems astonishingly incompetent while not to detail each and every salary, expenses, pensions, cars and benefits and allowances seems ridiculous mismanagement.

As MP I will detail every penny, line-by-line rather than the farce of Parliament’s bundling together of costs and salary increases disguised as food allowances and flipping of homes.

With over £1M repaid – and now a 1.5% pay increase they just don’t get it do they?

And these people run the economy?

Every penny – and receipts for every items: salary, expenses, staff costs and expenses, office costs, travel and so on – each month in an Excel sheet for ease of comparison with other MP’s and public servants.

Malaria and Kent

St Augustine one of Kent’s famous landings died from malaria. It’s not clear whether it was from catching it in Rome or in Thanet. With a warmer climate – even vineyards – and a marshy island it’s perfectly possible that Thanet was malarial.

The range of malaria victims is also astonishing:
http://www.malariasite.com/MALARIA/history_victims.htm

And while with TB, Margate’s Sea Bathing Hospital was a well-known hospital for what was known as consumption, and the disease seems almost compulsory for Britons such as Oliver Cromwell and Florence Nightingale – and unusually even Tom Jones the singer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tuberculosis_victims


While malaria has already been the recipient of 5 Nobel Prizes for Medicine:
http://www.malariasite.com/MALARIA/nobel.htm


I can’t see any reason why with Thanet’s heritage in medicine and Europe’s largest medical research facility with Pfizer, research in Kent into Malaria and TB eradication with the UN Millennium Development Goals shouldn’t yield not just medical breakthroughs but also mass –production of vaccines and foreign factories for increased manufacture.

The current problem for pharma companies is that the market is in “Western diseases” which are largely cosmetic or lifestyle eg athlete’s foot, and the temptation is to chase another cholesterol drug rather than the world’s main killers of Malaria, TB and HIV.

The Pfizer South Africa website for example http://www.pfizer.co.za/Runtime/POPContentRun.aspx?pageIDRef=2158&Area=PGP

shows an emphasis on diseases that are the supposedly preserve of the healthy and wealthy – yet Malaria, TB and HIV kill 6 million people across the world each year.

6 million. Every year. The population of Britain destroyed every decade – how many Asian Beckham’s, Latin American Shakespeare’s or African Churchill’s gone.

We’re in danger of missing an opportunity not just to create jobs and full employment with Pfizer and a “2nd Pfizer” eg Glaxo – but create research expertise and production facilities for vaccines, nets and medical procedures that are world-leading. And with a market of half the world’s population I’d be astonished if Pfizer couldn’t turn a dollar or two into the bargain.

Full employment in a growth market and areas such as pharma is not impossible by any means. Nor the related industries such as water filters, bacteria and parasite diseases, vaccination programmes, public health training, exchange programmes, research papers and conferences.

One restrictive point in the last decade or two has been a reliance on TRIPS patent protection legislation – but what the UN Millennium Goals and Dohar Round and TRIPS reform, and Call to Action shows, Pfizer are already doing much to ensure research and vaccines can be developed for what are Victorian diseases that were eradicated here 50 or 100 years ago – and already 50 jobs created with Peakdale and new research labs.

With warmer climates we may well need that valuable research in the future for ourselves. While contaminated drinking water supplies and discharge from Thor and Infratil into Pegwell Bay and possibly Tivoli Brook demonstrates how far and how quickly things can fail jeopardising lives and livelihoods now and in the future.

How many deaths and how much illness before cleanup even begins? How many corners to be cut? How much regulation to be faked or rubber-stamped?

While most of the world may not have an NHS with free medical care, nor free schools an education, surely the opportunity in Thanet is for our teachers to work with Pfizer to create education and training programmes for the children of Thanet and those abroad.

I learnt as a child about Curie and Koch and the public health programmes of the likes of local government officials such as Joseph Chamberlain – with a duty of care before a legislative requirement – it would be a failing if the children of Kent did not learn of the UN Millennium Goals and the HIV and TB and Malaria programmes on their doorstep – whether it be the chemistry, history, biology or geography of the last three great plagues.

TDC tax-take for failure

Two-thirds of the District deprived of funding. The remaining one-third of funding wasted.

Quoted by Mayor Green at the TDC meeting. Followed by quotes form The Sun recording the decline of Margate into one of Britain’s ghost towns.

Not that the money isn’t there: it’s simply been wasted.

Richard Samuel District CE makes a very good point at minute 35 of the webcam: “significant public policy failure” ie the public sector has failed to prevent the towns being destroyed.

He’s right: every decision and investment by the public sector has essentially brrn wasted: the problems in Thanet have got worse over the years.

Not improved. Actually got worse.

Not just the current recession but years and decades of failure. And £60M of council tax each year simply sprayed up the wall.

The Cliftonville plan again details lack of planning controls for overcrowding or small flats – despite repeated concerns over this being one of the reasons for decline.

Falls in parking revenue – no tourists as the attractions have closed.

A fall in Planning fees – saturation in construction.

The collapse of the tourism industry and over-conversion of hotels.

While the c.2.5% council tax increase each year for 5 years is presumably on top of the £6M savings (maybe not) – which with 2.5% on £60M tax means a net increase each year. No savings at all.

Featherbedding of reserves and public sector salaries: over 10% of available funds held back for muck-ups or to tidy the books - and 30% increase in staff in the last two years and 30-50% of council tax spent on the council itself.

A fundamental misunderstanding by the public sector that their wages and pensions and expenses are 100% tax ie funded by the public.

Simply put, the council has achieved nothing except riding the decline down. To the point now where it’s hit rock-bottom.

Nothing in the meeting on reopening Dreamland.

Nothing on Thor mercury pollution.

Nothing on the 0% salary fraud – which I understand is a £10k salary increase and £5k car allowance increase for Richard Samuel. That’s not 0%. That’s a fraudulent civil service increase.

Nothing on the stealing of disabled grant funds for council offices.

Nothing on publishing council expenses and salaries.

Nothing on asset sales of public properties simply to fund council salaries – rather than toilets being opened and buildings maintained and returned to use.

Nothing on the removal of noise and air monitors and Manston pollution – and the repeated 106 breaches allowed by TDC.

Nothing on the polluted drinking water.

And now dredging a harbour to allow for a ferry that was promised a year ago - and obviously wouldn't fit in the harbour. And more lorries parked by the beach: as some sort of bizarre tourism initiative to spot the rubbish thrown on the beach.

If we're not drinking faeces in the water then we can look at it bobbing on the tide.

Community cohesion has simply collapsed – now running the gamut from anti-social behaviour such as dog dirt to council fraud to toxic pollution and presumably to riots.

Why not sack some senior civil servants and get the rest to organise some grant funding for KCC or Government? That is what they do isn’t it? Manage the area for the public and improve it?

Rather than sweating the public’s assets it looks like we need to sweat the civil servants and councillors – we don’t need to employ them if they can’t improve the area.

A council that’s collapsed.

A council simply funding itself and talking to itself and watching the towns burn down and fall down.

The highest lung cancer rate from Manston.

The most polluted drinking water under Manston.

Sandy and Roger have simply failed to use the public staff and funds and time and goodwill and should resign.

Recall by 10% of councillors or the electorate and 3 month contract terminations on TDC senior staff will reduce party political gridlock and incentivise them to retain their jobs and pensions.

Roger Gale has spent 30 years as MP watching Margate collapse.

Steve Ladyman has spent 13 years in Parliament with one of the worst councils in Britain still unreformed.

8 weeks before an election and mere silence from Sandys and the Party candidates: no manifestos from Central Office means there’s nothing they’re allowed to say.

And nothing they do as the District collapses.