UK airport submits huge £500m expansion plans

Bristol Airport has officially submitted its major expansion proposals, sparking a fresh row with local residents and environmental campaigners only a few years after the previous dispute. Airport management has requested approval from North Somerset Council to extend its runway, permit additional flights, enlarge the terminal and raise the maximum annual passenger capacity from the existing limit of 12 million to 15 million.

Campaigners who battled unsuccessfully against the most recent development described the proposal as “so wrong at every level” and vowed to oppose the scheme from gaining approval. Bristol Airport secured authorisation to grow from a maximum of nine million passengers annually to 12 million in 2022, following prolonged planning disputes and opposition campaigns. The airport has witnessed substantial construction activity over the last few years, including a transport hub which has transformed how passengers reach the terminal.

The number of passengers using the airport remained under 11 million last year, yet airport management maintains it wishes to expand further, with the threshold increased. The airport stated that, in the longer term, this would result in flight movements rising from the current 85,990 to 100,000 annually to “meet demand for air travel”.

“On a busy day in peak period this would result in 35 extra aircraft movements. While night flying restrictions would remain, the Airport is proposing to increase night flights by 1,000 per year – on average, four per night on a busy night in the peak period,” a spokesperson said, reported Bristol Live.

The development would include travellators along the walks from the terminal to aircraft, plus additional “contact stands” enabling passengers to board planes directly. The scheme would also feature an extended runway – stretching right up to the A38 road and, contentiously, landing lights relocated onto Felton Common, a proposal opposed by its owners, the local parish council.

The extended runway would accommodate transatlantic services, meaning destinations across the US and the Middle East would become regular routes from Bristol.

“Our proposals deliver what customers have told us they want to see at their local airport,” said Bristol Airport chief executive, Dave Lees. “We will open up opportunities to visit places further afield and for businesses to expand into new international markets.

“This would improve international connectivity to key world cities enhancing trade, supporting high value sectors and improving inward investment, as well as supporting our world-leading universities in their research and innovation endeavours.

“It is also about connecting family and friends – something that’s important for the West of England where 30 per cent of people now have close family members living abroad,” he added.

The airport’s previous expansion proposals were rejected by councillors in North Somerset, and only received approval after a Government planning inspector sanctioned them on appeal and a High Court judge ruled against campaigners who pursued legal action to block it.

That sequence could very well repeat itself, as Bristol Airport Action Network – a coalition of community groups comprising local residents and parish councils surrounding the airport, alongside Bristol-based environmental campaigners – have vowed to oppose this latest proposal.

“We said it before the last expansion, and we will say it again; Bristol Airport is simply big enough,” said BAAN’s Stephen Clarke. “Last time over 84% of residents who responded to their expansion plans objected; this time the planned expansion is likely to be unpopular because of the land-grab of Felton Common.

“We call on the local councillors on North Somerset Council’s Planning Committee to listen to those they represent and reject these plans,” he added.