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(This is just a left-over bit of blog - you wait till you see the new website!)

Friday 2 September 2011

Q&A: employment at airports

Is it true that every 1 million passengers creates 1,000 jobs? It's the number Manston keep trotting out. It's the number the press obediently repeats. It's the number some councillors believe.

22 comments:

Bannerman said...

Still no comments ho hum you must try harder to get the message out there or better still not bother.
As a Birchington resident living at the bottom of the runway I hardly notice the noise. Have planes 24/7 I say, more the merrier. In fact I might start up a blog YES TO MORE FLIGHTS and JOBS. Probably get more interest.

Tony said...

I work nights and live directly in front of the runway, so daytime is my night-time and the flights cause me no problems at all.

NNF said...

Bannerman: Birchington isn't at the end of the runway, and isn't under the (offical) flight paths - so you're probably not getting the same levels of noise as Ramsgate or Herne Bay.

Bannerman and Tony: I'm pleased for you both that you're not bothered by the noise, really I am. Please remember that there are thousands of people under the flight path who are bothered by the noise, and spare a thought for them.

Tony said...

It goes back to the old comment, why choose to live near an airport?

Bannerman said...

Sorry but Herne Bay is nowhere near Manston. As I stand in my back garden I can see the planes taxi on the runway!! So I LIVE NEAR AN AIRPORT ok. Herne Bay residents live on a flight path with aircraft already at altitude even greater than say South East London on flight paths to Heathrow.
Funny enough like Tony I work nights and don't hear a thing during the day also when I moved to the area it wasn't a shock to system to open the curtains to discover "shock horror" an airport!

NNF said...

Tony: when I chose my house, there was a ban on night flights. There still is. I want to keep it that way.

NNF said...

Bannerman: You live near an airport - fact. Herne Bay is under a flight path - fact. You're not bothered by plane noise - fact. Thousands of other people are bothered by plane noise - fact.

Tony said...

NNF you state "Thousands are bothered by plane noise-fact". When did you do your survey? What area did you ask? How many thousands of people did you ask? What was the percentage against the airport?

NNF said...

Tony: hundreds of signatures on the paper petitions, collected in Ramsgate and the Thanet villages. 1,600 signatures on the online petition (link on the right). Local election results in Nethercourt Ward, Ramsgate, where both winning candidates stood on an explicitly "No Night Flights" platform.

Anonymous said...

aaahh, Tony, you've been quiet. Is the port keeping you busy?

Anonymous said...

Tony, are you posting from work? During your break(s) I assume?

Tony said...

Anon, how can I post if I'm being kept busy. Why post under anon?

NNF Hundreds + 1,600 + the votes out of how many thousands population. Are you speaking for the minority over the majority?

Anonymous said...

who are you representing tony? The port?

Tony said...

Anon ??? care to clarify, I thought NNF's was about night flights.

Mr. Green Crayon said...

Thousands of people have said they DON'T want to be woken by night flights. Not even Tony and Bannerman (assuming they're different people) have said that they DO want to woken by night flights.

Anonymous said...

Tony, NNF is about night flights

you work at the port.

Tony said...

Anon, so what are you saying, that I'm not entitled to comment?

Anonymous said...

council likes manston
council owns port
you work for port

Tony said...

What planet are you on? If I work for the Council are you saying I should like everything they like, if so you don't know me. For your information I think the Council sucks.

NNF said...

Oh dear, this has become rather fractious.

Everyone is entitled to comment, anonymously if they wish. I have yet to delete a comment, but it does get dull when comments descend into sniping, rather than sticking to the point or making a point.

Tony: regarding your point about minority/majority. The thousands who are against night flights are indeed a minority when viewed against the tens of thousands who live in Ramsgate or Herne Bay.

However, if you divide the local residents into three groups (those for, those against, and the don't know/don't care) it's clear that the overall balance is strongly against night flights.

A minority of people (42%) bothered to vote in Thanet in the recent local elections. The non-voting "silent" majority have to live with what the others chose. That's how it works in this electoral democracy - if you say nothing, nobody listens.

Tony said...

NNF, agree with you completly, glad to get back on track. I'm neither for or against night flights, what I am against is when people state the the town (Ramsgate in my case) is against it without any proper referendum being carried out.

NNF said...

Which raises the question of what it would take to be able the say that the town - Ramsgate, Herne Bay, wherever - is against night flights.

(Incidentally, do contact your local councillor and ask when the public consultation will start.)

We're only getting a consultation, not a referendum, but we can dream... So, if we DID have a referendum and EVERYONE said "No", that would be clear enough. If the MAJORITY said "No", that would have to do.

At the moment it's a bit like the cat food ads - the majority of residents who have expressed a preference are against night flights.