In a nutshell: Noise

Dear reader, your ears are astonishing. They have a subtle sensitivity that is beyond the skills of modern science to duplicate. And they're kinda cute, too. Millions of years of selective honing has produced an exceptionally capable system: consider what an extraordinary and useful skill it is to be able to tell when a politician is lying to you, even with your eyes shut.

Boffins try to deal with sound by analysing it as changes in air pressure (decibels), which turns out to be a rather crude system. Using decibels to describe sound is like trying to describe the ocean by measuring the height of the waves: it's definitely true and informative, but it's a long way from being the whole picture. Unfortunately, 'we are where we are' as the pointless phrase has it, so let's have a closer look at these clumsy decibels.

The way decibels are counted is a bit bonkers. Zero decibels (0 dB) is not silence. No, zero decibels is the softest sound a person with normal hearing can hear at least 50% of the time.

Worse still, decibels are measured on what is called a logarithmic scale. This means that if a sound is increased by 10 decibels, it actually doubles in loudness as we perceive it - it sounds twice as loud to us. If a sound is decreased by 10 decibels, it seems as if the volume has been halved.

You couldn't make it up.

Here are all the examples of decibel levels of everyday sounds that I could find, to give you a feel for how the scale works:

0 dB Threshold of hearing
10 dB Rustle of leaves
20 dB Water dripping
30 dB Soft whisper
40 dB Quiet radio in room, refrigerator
50 dB Normal conversation, moderate rainfall, light traffic
55 dB Quiet suburban neighborhood
60 dB Conversation
70 dB Noisy restaurant, busy traffic
75 dB Dishwasher, washing machine, vacuum cleaner
80 dB Alarm clock, blow dryer
85 dB Electric razor
90 dB Roar of sports crowd, lawn mower
100 dB Snowmobile, chainsaw, power tools
102 dB Leaf blower
110 dB Stereo headset, rock music
115 dB Subway train screech
120 dB Rock concert, thunderclap
130 dB .22 caliber rifle
140 dB Toy cap gun, firecracker, low flying aircraft, jet take-off
170 dB High-powered shotgun
180 dB Rocket launch

Around the 70 dB mark is the boundary between things that you might think of as quiet, and those that are loud. The logarithmic scale has the result that as the numbers increase over 70 dB, things start getting a lot louder.

Coming soon (as if you hadn't guessed): the harm that noise can cause, and the noise from planes.

In a nutshell: airport manners

• The Draft Masterplan for KIA is indicative but insubstantial – it needs to be redrafted, and then put out to consultation properly.
• The Section 106 Agreement should reflect the needs of everyone affected by the operation of the airport, not just Infratil and TDC.
• There is absolutely no need or justification for night flights (other than emergency diversions).
• Flight paths should avoid population centres by overflying the sea, or sparsely populated land.
• If overflying towns is unavoidable, the planes could fly higher for longer, and then descend more steeply.
• These ‘people-friendly’ routes should be agreed and implemented before flight volumes increase.
• Infratil must demonstrate that the routes are being adhered to by recording and reporting what the planes actually do, by installing adequate noise and pollution monitoring equipment and ensuring it is used consistently.
• The readings from all the monitoring equipment must be recorded consistently, and the recorded readings must be published frequently and regularly (e.g. on-line).
• Failure to comply with the S106 agreement must be reported and fined. Any decisions not to fine must be explained.

In a nutshell: Manston

Manston a.k.a. Kent International Airport is an ex-RAF base in north-east Kent, just west of Ramsgate. It passed from the RAF to Wiggins, then PlaneStation, owners of EUJet (a budget passenger airline). EUJet went bust, and in August 2005 the administrators sold Manston to Infratil, a New Zealand-based multi-national infrastructure investor.

The airport is mainly used for flying clubs, testing and training, and private planes. In 2008, less than 3% of the planes were freight or passenger flights. Infratil's growth plans for Manston are ambitious: 6 million passengers, ½ million tonnes of freight and 103,800 flights annually.

There is a "Section 106 Agreement" (S106) between Infratil and Thanet District Council (TDC) which describes what Infratil can, and can't, do at Manston. The scale of Infratil's planned growth is enough to require the S106 to be renegotiated. The existing S106 was drawn up in 2005, and needs to be renegotiated anyway as its 3 year lifespan has expired. There would be a statutory period of public consultation lasting 6 months. This consultation period has not started (as at: 20th June 2009).

Due to the nature of airports and air travel, many more people have a stake in this than just Infratil and TDC. East Kent residents under the flightpaths, particularly in Ramsgate, but also in the Wantsum villages, Herne Bay, Whitstable and Canterbury will all be affected to some degree. Environmental groups, transport lobbies, government bodies, wildlife groups and others all have an interest. The non-partisan KIA Consultative Committee provides a valuable forum for all the interested parties to meet and discuss.

A key issue for local residents is noise. Obviously, the nearer a plane is (in both distance and height) the louder the noise; and if everything else is particularly quiet (at night) it will sound louder anyway. Which is why flightpaths, plane heights, flight times and monitoring matter so much to so many, and keep appearing on this site.

TDC have a duty to do their best to regenerate and energise Thanet, which includes some of the most deprived areas of Kent. Infratil have spent £30m on Manston so far, and have yet to make their shareholders a profit. All the East Kent residents would welcome something that benefits them. We need to find a win-win-win solution.

This is not a small decision, and the consequences will affect tens of thousands of people for years, if not decades. It's worth taking the trouble to get this one right. And everyone needs to think in the short, medium and long term.

In a nutshell: Night Flights

THE AIRPORT OWNERS WANT TO…

• be able to schedule flights throughout the night
• increase the number of night flights from 2 a week to 7.7 a night
• operate a "Quota Count" system: every plane has a QC number, the louder the plane, the larger the number. The airport wants an annual Quota Count total - a "plane noise budget" for night flights
• be able to fly planes up to and including QC4 (a 747 jumbo) at any time throughout the night
• apply the night flight Quota Count to planes flying between 11:30pm and 6am, even though the standard definition of "night" is 11pm to 7am.
• count the planes that fly to the west of the runway as 50% of their actual QC number, so they can fly twice as many
• change the standard fine for rule-breaking to a flat rate of £1,000 - currently, when an aircraft is too loud, too low, or off-course, the fine starts at £1,000 and doubles for each repeat offence.
• make the "flat rate" fine of £1,000 apply only over Ramsgate: if the plane is anywhere west of the runway, the fine would be halved to £500

EMPLOYMENT

• after 10 years, Manston employs just 111 people, some part-time. 61% live in Thanet.
• the average pay at Manston is lower than the average pay in Thanet
• most of the "jobs" Infratil say will be created are imaginary - the result of totting up tiny statistical fractions of jobs: the fuel delivery driver in East Africa, the barber in Ramsgate who cuts the pilot's hair, etc
• Manston’s Chief Exec, Charles Buchanan, was at London City airport when it promised thousands of new jobs in return for permission to increase flights by 50%
• after 10 years the airport delivered just 23% of the jobs promised; less than 30% of the jobs created went to local people
• of the thousands of new jobs promised, less than 7% were actually delivered to local people
• the aviation industry has become increasingly automated, and less reliant on people - just 20% more people could handle double the current UK air traffic
• Manston airport workers tell us they could easily cope with a lot more planes with their existing staff working overtime - it will be years before they go "up a gear" and need to recruit heavily
• jobs created at and near airports are heavily outnumbered by jobs lost in the domestic tourism and hospitality industries
• in Herne Bay, a new 50-room Premier Inn with 50-seater restaurant created 60 jobs

NOISE

• the European Court of Human Rights says that sleep is a human right
• never mind the decibels, here's a rule of thumb: if it wakes you up, it's too loud
• sleep deprivation increases the risk of accidents at home, on the roads and at work
• anyone with hearing problems, or who suffers from anxiety or depression, will experience increased suffering
• over 8,000 homes in Ramsgate, and more along the flight path, will be directly affected by the increased noise
• measurements of "average noise" contours are pointless - it's not the average noise through the night of an alarm clock that wakes you, it's the peak noise (when it goes off)
• noise isn't just annoying: it's dangerous, and can even be deadly

HEALTH

• W.H.O.'s Night Noise Guidelines for Europe 2009: "... adverse health effects related to night noise [may result from] night noise levels greater than 40 dB (Lnight, outside) when most people are in bed. "
• A study of 1 million residents around Cologne airport analysing the effects of aircraft noise identified a significant and clear impact on health: a night-time average sound pressure level of 55 dB increased the risk of heart attacks by 66% in men and 139% in women.
• The current proposals will result in 30,000 people being exposed to 85dB or more between the hours of 23:30 and 06:00
• the EU is trying to ban night flights because of the health risks
• local and central Government both acknowledge that increased noise, air and ground pollution causes major health problems
• even if it doesn't wake you up, the noise of night flights can speed up your heart rate, lower your immune system, and increase stress hormones

EDUCATION

• Munich airport moved from one side of the city to another. Children were tested before and after the move for short- and long-term memory, reaction times and reading skills. Near the old airport the scores went UP, near the new airport the scores went DOWN. [Old site went from 68 to 54 dB(A); new site went from 53 to 62 dB(A).]
• research shows that living with aircraft noise impairs the "cognitive development" of children, specifically reading comprehension - schools exposed to high levels of aircraft noise are not healthy educational environments.
• reducing a classroom's background noise by 7-9 dB improves children's speech intelligibility and word intelligibility

ECONOMICS

• being under a flight path can knock up to a third off the value of your house, or even make it unsellable
• night cargo flights over a seaside town are the kiss of death to any dreams for a regeneration as a tourist destination - hotels, B&Bs, restaurants will all lose out
• the real economic gain from night flights won't be jobs for the people of Thanet, but profit for an investment company based in (and paying taxes in) New Zealand.

ENVIRONMENT

• the UK is supposed to be trying to reduce its carbon footprint to below 2005 levels
• exhaust fumes and droplets of aviation fuel fall on Ramsgate houses as the planes throttle back to land
• risk to the aquifer, absence of adequate run-off reservoir
• 7.7 cargo flights a night equals a lot of lorries a night - more pollution, more noise, less sleep

INFRATIL

• New Zealand-based, multi-billion dollar, multi-national investment company who buy and sell power stations, ferry companies etc. for profit
• Infratil bought Manston for £10.3 million five years ago, and has lost more than that since
• Infratil aims to make its investors a 20% return, but Manston is a loss maker
• Infratil told shareholders this summer that its priorities are energy and transport in New Zealand and Australia - the company’s strategy is to cut losses at Manston by cutting costs
• New Zealand financial analysts and investors regard the European airports as a mistake: Infratil's share price went up went it sold Lübeck airport in Germany; and when there were rumours that they were going to sell Manston, the share price rose
• we can’t rely on promises by Infratil as they probably hope to sell the airport, and whoever owns it next won't be tied by Infratil's promises