Wiggins’ routes discovered

A red letter day, dear reader. One of my undercover researchers (codename: Casey) has unearthed a map of the routes agreed between Wiggins and TDC many moons ago. Apparently one of the lead negotiators from the TDC side was Cllr Harrison. These ‘people-friendly’ routes didn’t make it into the Section 106 Agreement due to an oversight by, er, Cllr Harrison. Shame.

These routes were mentioned at a meeting held at Manston, chaired by Cllr Harrison. I got the impression that they had somehow wisped away to nothingness, lost forever to the eyes of mortals. I’m pleased to have sight of them at last. I expect Infratil and TDC will be thrilled, too. Now that they don’t have to go through the rigmarole of (re)negotiating effective noise abatement routes, they can use the time they’ve saved to install fixed noise monitors under the newly agreed routes.

click it to big it

click it to big it

The carefully drawn coloured lines on the map are explained by the accompanying colour-coded key.

The red route labelled 1 is the standard westward instrument departure route: by the time the plane is doubling back on itself and heading south, it’s supposed to be at 3,000 feet and climbing. Route 2 is the alternative westward route; route 3 is the standard eastward instrument departure route. All of the other lines and boxes are explained in the key.

What I find interesting about this is that it so clearly shows what is achievable. The planes can fly more people-friendly routes. So what do you think the odds are of anything resembling this appearing in the next S106 Agreement?

Noise map of Kent

click it to big itDear reader, those nice people at the CPRE have produced some maps that are both pretty and informative. They show the distribution of “Tranquility” across our fine nation, and come with an explanation of how the CPRE assess tranquility.

Looking at the map of Kent (click it to big it) the cities and towns are easy to spot, as is the M20 running through Ashford to Folkestone, and the roads radiating out from Canterbury.

Looking more closely at North-east Kent, it’s easy to spot Whitstable, Herne Bay, Birchington, Westgate, Margate, Broadstairs, Ramsgate and Canterbury.

But what’s that red smudge of non-tranquility, just west of Ramsgate and south of Westgate? An all-night rave at Acol? Burning the candle at both ends in Minster? Innumerable painted lady butterflies smashing their wings together? Countless ladybirds crashing about like tiny scarlet castanets?

Nope. It’s everyone’s favourite neighbour: Kent International Airport at Manston. Even with the current (“unsustainable”) low level of traffic, they have as much impact on the quality of life as a small town. By way of reminder, dear reader, the airport’s strategy is to achieve 103,800 flights a year. Equivalent to one every 5 minutes, day and night, all year. You may as well fish out your favourite crimson lippy and colour in all the rest of Thanet scarlet.