Stop Bristol Airport Expansion (SBAE)

[Aviador]

[textarea]Campaigners want delay in Bristol Airport expansion decision

Campaign group Stop Bristol Airport Expansion (SBAE) say emissions from the proposed Bristol Airport expansion will double, and are calling for a delay in the final decision until a report is published later this year. The Campaigners say the 125 percent increase in emissions as a result of increased flight numbers would make the airport's carbon footprint as big as the whole of Bath and North East Somerset.

SBAE is writing to North Somerset Council calling for a delay in any decision until a Government report on aviation emissions is released in December. It says that any decision made by the council before the release of the Technical Scientific Committee on Climate Change's Aviation Study would be recklessly premature.

Source[/textarea]

SBAE up to their usual tricks. I think the main reason they keep spouting on about this is to keep themselves in the public domain. Generally speaking, the press seem to thrive off these types of eccentric groups when they have nothing else to feature.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Absolutely right, Aviador.

It's usually the local evening or daily newspaper they spout to who are delighted to receive press releases from anyone as it fills space and doesn't need a reporter to go out and get a story.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]Petition in support of Bristol Airport expansion

More than 1,800 people have signed a petition supporting the £150 million expansion of Bristol Airport.
The airport then plans to send the petition to North Somerset Council which is considering Lulsgate's expansion plans.

They include doubling the size of the current terminal, adding multi-storey car parks and the demolition of an old terminal, currently used as administration offices. The plans also involves a new administration building to the right of an expanded terminal and a new runway apron for aircraft.

A string of Bristol business groups and firms have also written to the council in support of the expansion.

Warmley brewery Bath Ales, the Bristol Port Company and GWE Business West are among about 40 firms who have backed the scheme, in correspondence with the council.

Mike Wilkins, group operations director of Bath Ales said: "I recently had to visit a customer in Turnbury, 40 miles south of Glasgow. The price (by plane) was in total £86 compared to nearly £200 to travel by rail, plus a six-hour journey time each way. The time taken was 55 minutes plus an hour to pass through both airports. I checked in online, the planes were clean, reasonably comfortable and the staff all helpful when I needed assistance."

Simon Bird, chief executive of the Bristol Port Company said: "Like the port, the airport provides connectivity to the rest of the world and saves redundant journeys on congested roads to other already over-burdened airports."

But the credit crunch has seen the airport scale back its expectations of passenger growth. In the first six months of the year, 2.4 million people used the airport – a fall of more than 500,000 people compared with the same period in 2008.

People travelling through the airport in June dropped 11 per cent – the eighth month in a row passenger numbers have fallen, although a slower fall than previous months. It previously claimed passenger numbers would reach 10 million a year by 2016, but now believes the figure will be reached by 2020 and is delaying its plans accordingly.[/textarea]

link: http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/homepage ... ticle.html

It's nice to see people who work in the real world and who create jobs and wealth are supporting the expansion.

The Friends of the Earth, Protect Rural England people and fellow travellers in the main inhabit a fantasy world where everyone must conform to their view of life. The leaders are professional agitators, most of whom have never contributed anything to society other than condemn what others have worked hard to put in place.

I note the newspaper report talks about a 'new runway apron for aircraft'. Really? The expansion plans call for an extended apron area but accesss to it will be from the existing runway, albeit there will be some physical work to allow larger aircraft easier transit from the runway.

People who are naive or out to cause mischief will interpret this as a new runway, probably an extended one.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]Bristol Airport flights mapped

A new image shows flight paths of aircraft taking off from Bristol International Airport.

It was produced by a campaign group which is fighting the airport's expansion plans during the next two decades.

The campaigners claim it shows how far flight paths have deviated from regular routes and the extent of the Bristol area where planes fly.

But it has been described by the airport as "an amateur approach to a complex issue".

Jeremy Birch, spokesman for Stop Bristol Airport Expansion (SBAE) said: "This data confirms beyond a doubt just how far afield planes from Bristol airport are flying.

"The regular flight paths have been planned to minimise flights over populated areas, but more planes travelling wide of these will cause more suffering for local residents. Plans for 10 million passengers, and 13.8m by 2030 can only mean that things are going to get much worse."

Campaigners used a tracking device to monitor flights from the airport during a week in May. The device picked up radio signals broadcast by planes.

Mr Birch said: "This image just shows data from departures in one week in May and, in fact, isn't the complete story as it's based on the radio signals we were able to pick up from one location.

"It also only has half the flights as no arrivals are shown.

"Even so it is clear that flights to and from the airport fly over many local communities. We will continue to monitor flight paths and use this to show all concerned the impacts of the airport's operations."

Airport spokesman James Gore said: "Mr Birch has used off-the-shelf equipment intended for use by aviation enthusiasts to enhance enjoyment of their hobby, not to provide serious monitoring of track-keeping by aircraft at a busy regional airport. Furthermore, the map used falls some way short of the accuracy required (an Ordnance Survey 1:50,0000 map would be standard).

"No scale is provided and no indication of where the tracking device was located is given.

"There is no attempt to identify individual aircraft, and clearly noise impacts will vary between, for example, light aircraft and commercial airliners.

"There is no indication of whether the easterly or westerly runway was in use, which would have a significant influence on the results.

"Finally, aircraft transiting through the airspace are not differentiated from those arriving or departing from Bristol International. Quite frankly, this is an amateur approach to a complex issue, and the results are no more valid than a 'back-of-a-fag-packet' sketch. As a result, it is impossible to draw any conclusions from this graphic."

Bristol International is investing £400,000 over five years in Tracker – a system which will monitor aircraft departure noise and produce a graphic record of where aircraft using the airport fly relative to the ground.

A public consultation on the airport's £150m expansion plans is currently running until August 17. But the revamp could be delayed because of the downturn in air travel. If the proposal gets the green light, work will start next year but will not now be completed until 2019 or 2020.

When the airport revealed its expansion plans to the public for consultation in January, it said it would finish the upgrade by 2016 – the year passenger numbers were expected to hit 10m.[/textarea]

link: http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/homepage ... ticle.html

This mob is becoming increasingly desperate in its attempts to discredit the airport.

 

[Aviador]

Deary me they are too. Clearly there's nothing much happening down at the village hall to distract them away from all this pettiness. :wacko:

 

[Aviador]

[textarea]Peter Madden: Planet Bristol

Do we want to see Bristol airport nearly double in size? North Somerset Council is deciding whether to give the go ahead to an expansion that would see passenger numbers rise from six million a year to 10m in a decade.

Some local firms say the airport is important to them – they want to be able to fly off to business meetings. But the overall impact on business is more mixed. At the moment, there are six times as many outbound leisure flights as there are inbound. So, far from bringing tourists and their spending money into the regional economy, the airport does the reverse. As we recover from the recession, do we want hundreds of millions of pounds more leaving the region?

Environmentally, this expansion would be very negative, pumping more CO2 into the atmosphere despite national targets to cut emissions. It would also dwarf and discourage all the efforts by individuals and companies in Bristol to cut CO2. Why should everyone do their little bit – getting on their bikes or switching to energy saving light bulbs – if there're going to be thousands of extra planes?

Then there's the increased traffic. The proposed expansion doesn't include any serious public transport plans. Regional airports such as Bristol make most of their money from car parking and have little interest in really sorting this out. I'd like to see more airport buses, particularly for South Bristol that suffer from the planes flying over and could really benefit from the jobs.

I would welcome plans to improve facilities at the airport, but don't think this expansion is a good idea for the economy, the environment or the people of Bristol.

Windmill Hill City Farm in Bedminster is under threat. It has grown over the past 30 years, and now has loads of stuff for children. More than 200,000 people visit every year. It may close by Christmas, So do visit their website – or pop down if you're local – and show your support.

Green tip: do you find yourself drowning under piles of cardboard and paper? Why not tear off the packaging you don't need at the supermarket till and leave it for them to sort out?

Peter Madden is the Chief Executive of Forum For The Future

Source[/textarea]

What is becoming more and more noticeable with these groups in the anti airport lobby is they are copying tactics that seem to work for other anti airport groups. Much of the above almost mirrors what I have ready else where about other airports including here in Leeds with the recent campaign to extend the terminal here.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Unfortunately for Bristol Airport SBAE has been one of the leading anti airport expansion groups in the country, possibly in Europe, for quite a while. A couple of years ago the Guardian did a piece on them extolling their virtues (to the Guardian) as an example to similar groups everywhere. SBAE is well connected, well funded and very vociferous.

It now seems the unelected quango, the South West Regional Development Agency, created by government to promote the region, has joined local authorities in the area, local MPs and many local and parish councillors in opposing expansion of Bristol Airport.

SWRDA's response to the planning authority regarding the planning expansion application is summarised below in the box.

In the past SWRDA has strongly supported development of all airports in its region (BRS, EXT, NQY, PLH, BOH and GLO), both in argument and with, at times, financial support. It started to go cold on aviation last year though when it announced a change of policy that it would no longer actively support its airports.

It has now shown its teeth by appearing to sit on the fence re the BRS expansion but in reality has put its not inconsiderable weight behind those who oppose expansion. It clearly thinks the green issues and the net loss of jobs (mainly in tourism because that is a major industry in the far south west especially) through people going on holiday abroad is too much for it to countenance.

It makes conciliatory noises about the benefits of expansion but then places obstacles in the way that effectively mean that expansion could not go ahead whilst still meeting SWRDA's objections.

Of course this is but another objection to add to the list of elected bodies and others and the Conservatives have said they will abolish the likes of SWRDA if (more likely when?) they are elected. However, they seem no keener on expansion of the airport than anyone else so one wonders if the owners will begin to question whether the time and expense is really worth it.


[textarea]South West RDA responds to
Bristol International Airport expansion plans

The South West RDA has given qualified support to Bristol International Airport’s expansion plans.

Bristol International Airport (BIA) is of strategic importance to the South West. Its existing economic significance, both to the West of England area and the region as a whole, is well established, and the airport is clearly important to many South West businesses.

However, the RDA is also working hard to ensure that the region develops a low carbon economy for the future and responds effectively to the challenge of climate change
Responding as a statutory consultee to Bristol International Airport’s planning application to North Somerset Council, the Agency has made the following key points

We support:

measures to ‘green’ BIA’s operations – reducing carbon emissions, increasing use of renewable energy, raising sustainable construction standards
enhancing public transport links and limiting the introduction of car parking – encouraging a major shift away from using private cars to access the airport

improvements to the terminal to improve the passenger experience BIA’s commitment to ensure new jobs are accessible to the local labour market. Around 1000 new jobs are expected to be created, relatively near to some of Bristol’s most deprived areas

BIA’s potential contributions to two major public transport projects: Bus Rapid Transit and the South Bristol Link

However, the Agency also believes more work needs to be done to:

reduce the carbon emissions associated with the airport’s site and operations, including setting a robust plan and timetable to achieve on-site carbon neutrality

analyse the net economic benefits to the UK economy and the region’s economy of airport expansion that is particularly based on growth in outbound leisure flights rather than inbound tourism or business-related services.

Andrew Slade, Executive Director, said:
“Bristol International Airport is hugely important as a major gateway to the South West. We recognise that the airport cannot stand still, that it must address developments in the air travel market and that certain improvements need to be made to its site and operations.

“However we would like BIA to do more to ensure the airport facility is carbon neutral and to develop its public transport links into Bristol. We have also queried some of the growth projections in terms of passenger numbers, and we would like to see further work done to confirm the wider economic impact of the proposed expansion – given that the balance of travel tips in favour of outbound leisure flights, rather than inbound or business journeys. “As an Agency, we have already concluded that we will not invest in airport expansions, but that we will support initiatives to ‘green’ current operations where we can.

“We will continue to work with national and regional partners to try and reduce the carbon emissions associated with air travel. This includes our £8 million investment in the Next Generation Composite Wing programme, led by Airbus in Bristol.”[/textarea]

http://download.southwestrda.org.uk/pub ... sponse.pdf

 

[TheLocalYokel]

SBAE have now said that if the planning authority decides to approve BRS's expansion plans they should cap annual passenger numbers at 8 mppa until the road infrastructure is suitable.

As many of the members of SBAE will object to any new roads, airport-related or not, it is difficult to view this other than as trying to keep the cake whilst eating it.

The airport is not impressed with a spokesman dismissing the idea.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]Campaigners ask Government to step in on airport decision

Campaigners fighting the expansion of Bristol airport (BIA) have asked the Government of the South West (GOSW) to step in and refer the decision on the airport’s plans to the Secretary of State.

Stop Bristol Airport Expansion (SBAE) said they decided to request a ‘call-in’, which would result in a direct decision from Government, or a public inquiry, because they believe that the ramifications of the decision, such as the impact of increased traffic, noise and carbon emissions, stretch beyond North Somerset Council’s area of control.

SBAE say that although they accept that the airport, near Weston, as it now stands serves the area’s needs for business and leisure, they strongly believe that the incremental benefits associated with this massive expansion would be far outweighed by the extremely detrimental impacts on local communities, the environment and the local tourism economy.

MPs Stephen Williams and Don Foster have both written to GOSW in support of SBAE’s request for a call-in.

Mr Williams said: “Given the major regional significance of the airport’s expansion plans, I do not believe that it would be appropriate for North Somerset Council to decide this application. The expansion of the airport would have significant effects beyond its immediate locality.”
Both Bristol City and B&NES councils are opposed to BIA’s expansion plans.

SBAE spokesperson and chairman of the Parish Councils’ Airport Association Hilary Burn said: We have not taken this decision lightly.

"We recognise the value of Bristol Airport as it now stands but its growth in recent years has also been extremely damaging to its neighbours and the environment.

“There is already a precedent in North Somerset Council’s opposition to development plans for new urban extensions for some of the same reasons we’re opposed to BIA’s plans, such as traffic congestion and building on Green Belt land.

"However, we believe that because the uncertainties, impacts and scale of this application are so immense and extend far beyond North Somerset’s borders, this application should be referred to the Secretary of State.

“We are calling for the airport’s planning application to be turned down or at least capped at 8 million passengers a year, with no further development until improvements in public infrastructure are delivered and greenhouse gas emissions can genuinely be reduced in line with the Climate Change Committee's report aimed at limiting aircraft emissions to 2005 levels.”

The grounds on which SBAE has asked GOSW to call in the application are:

· Impacts of noise, traffic and emissions stretch beyond North Somerset; neighbouring authorities have objected, as have local Health Authorities and a large number of Parishes, NGOs, and the public

· The Climate Change Committee December 2009 report showing that national targets and aviation targets cannot be met by aviation growth of more than 60% over 2005 levels, invalidating previous Government policy (Air Transport White Paper, 2003) supporting massive regional airport expansion. Clarification is needed by the Secretary of State to allocate how much expansion can happen at every UK airport

· Additional car parking in green belt land with no case yet made by BIA, as required, for ‘very special circumstances'

· Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS), which includes policy on airports, is not yet in place and currently delayed

· No Strategic Environment Assessment, which is required, has yet been carried out.
SBAE have been fighting since 2005 against the airport’s expansion proposals.

It believes the roads are already severely overloaded and quality of life in local villages is already severely blighted by increasing noise, traffic congestion and air pollution.

If their airports plan is approved SBAE believe there will be huge increases in carbon emissions.[/textarea]


http://www.westonsupermarepeople.co.uk/ ... ticle.html

I don't think the Sec of State will require advice from the anti-expansionists to call in the applications for public enquiry.

This has always been an option and no-one believes that North Somerset Council will have the final say.
If the council approves the plans – unlikely and if it does it will be hedged in unworkable restrictions – or rejects them, the airport will appeal and a planning inspector will then hold an enquiry which will give the final say to the Sec of State. If the council approves the plans unreservedly the objectors will seek a judicial review.

This happened in the 1990s. The council imposed draconian conditions on its approval for the airport's new terminal application. The airport appealed and a public enquiry was held. The result was that the terminal went ahead broadly as the airport had wanted.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]Planners back £150m expansion of Bristol International Airport

The £150 million plan to expand Bristol International Airport is being recommended for approval by North Somerset Council planning officers.

A 170-page report on BIA's application will go before the council's South Area Committee on March 3.

The report recommends approval of the application subject to 67 planning conditions and a legal agreement being entered into by Bristol International Airport and North Somerset Council.

This legal agreement will secure a number of financial contributions from the airport including:

£4.1 million towards the cost of a new link road between the A370 and A38

£1.25 million towards phase one of the Bristol rapid transit route from the Long Ashton park and ride site into Bristol city centre

Financial contributions to improve existing bus services and introduce new services to and from the airport, in particular from Bristol and Weston-super-Mare

£200,000 towards traffic calming measures in Barrow Gurney

£100,000 to Bath and North East Somerset Council for highway improvements

£100,000 towards an Environmental Improvement Fund to help mitigate noise impact on local properties.

In addition, the series of planning conditions include:

A restriction on the number of night flights (between 11.30pm and 6am)

A limit on the number of passengers using the airport to no more than 10 million a year

A requirement for Bristol International Airport to carry out highway improvements at five key junctions in the vicinity of the airport.

These are traffic signals at Downside/A38; traffic signals at West Lane/A38; improvements to the signals at

Churchill crossroads; improvements to the signals at Barrow Gurney/A38 junction; improvements to the terminal roundabout on the A38.

The council's North Area committee will make its final decision next week.[/textarea]
 
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/homepage ... ticle.html

The only snag might be the cap of 10 mppa, even though that total is now not thought likely until around 2020. Most of the financial payments have already been suggested by the airport.

Although this news is positive it doesn't really takes things forward that much.

North Somerset planning councillors have a recent history on more than one occasion of ignoring their professional planning officers' advice and coming to contrary decisions.

Whatever the local authority decides the matter could still be called in my the minister for public enquiry and SBAE and some local politicians have already asked the minister to do this. Even if he doesn't legal challenges/appeals are likely depending which way the council decides.

At least the professional planning officers have not recommended rejection which could have been a hurdle that might not have been capable of being overcome.

 

[Aviador]

Similar happened to the development at Leeds last year if you remember where the planning department recommended the terminal extension work yet the council chambers initially rejected the plans. The airport had to put up a fight to win it's approval by making changes to the plans submitted.

So I would say it's a hurdle crossed but it's by no means out of the woods yet and the nearer we get to a general election the more likely it will be left until the new lot get in.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]Teachers’ cash flying overseas: Blizzard

Educators’ pension plan is a 50% investor in Great Britain's Bristol Airport expansion

It sounds like an episode of the eccentric Hitchhikers’ Guide To The Galaxy.

It’s not an intergalactic super highway that has Britain’s West Country in an uproar. A massive airport expansion in North Somerset, a part of England known for its outstanding natural beauty, has residents fuming.

Why should we care?

Well, through the modern miracle known as globalization, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) is a 50% investor in the Bristol Airport expansion. So taxpayers here are funding it. And the province’s teachers — bless ’em — are not only investing in it, they are profiting from the project.

Stephen Hale is a parish councillor in Burrington, a tiny village of only 400 houses. It is close to the famed Cheddar Gorge, home to the cheese. His parish includes the Rock of Ages that inspired the well-known hymn.

Hale said the expansion of Bristol International Airport will destroy village life and cause havoc in the scenic Mendip Hills.

“I wonder how much information the people who run these pension funds give back to the teachers about what is happening and how they are doing it,” Hale told me in a telephone interview this week.

His village is in a conservation area and the narrow roads will be overwhelmed by the excess traffic, Hale says.

“We are not against the airport as a regional airport,” he said.

“The snag is the expansion they want to do,” he said.

“We just cannot get that number of people using vehicles going up to the airport because the road situation just won’t take it,” he said. The airport wants to go from 8 million passengers a year to 10 million.

There’s a groundswell of opposition to the expansion including a website — stopbia.com

With assets of more than $100 billion, OTPP is the largest single professional pension plan in Canada. It has a controversial history. In 2008, the province had to fork out an extra $300 million in contributions to help make up a $12.7 billion shortfall. In 1997, the province handed over $1.1 billion — 10% of the province’s education budget — to make up a supposed unfunded liability.

The other investor in the airport expansion is Australian, which makes me wonder if this is the revenge of the colonials.

The OTPP referred me to Bristol Airport for comment.

A spokesman told me by e-mail they have carefully considered the impact on the community.

“Significant mitigation measures and controls are proposed following the preparation of a detailed environmental statement, including improvements to local roads, contributions to transport schemes and new public transport services,” said James Gore.

He would not put a specific figure on the cost of the expansion.

“New controls to limit day and night noise have been put forward, and the maximum number of night flights reduced in response to feedback from local stakeholders,” he said.

The airport expansion is taking place almost entirely within its existing boundary.

Airport expansions are never popular. We’ve seen that here. Look no farther than Pickering airport and the bridge to Toronto island for proof.

Oh, that’s right. You can’t look at them. They were never built.

But if you’re a teacher who likes to fly and who lives in Pickering or on Toronto island, and if you are tempted to whine about airport expansions there, I would urge you hum a few lines of Rock of Ages, cut yourself a slice of cheddar, and spare a thought for the good burghers of North Somerset.[/textarea]

http://www.torontosun.com/comment/colum ... 30451.html

This emotive claptrap appeared in a Canadian newspaper.

The impression given is that a mini Heathrow is proposed in the verdant hills of North Somerste and that every local resident is up in arms against the project.

The parish councillor quoted (I detest this level of so-called democracy more than any other because most parish councillors in my experience are no more than bossy nosey parkers) is responsible for a village four miles from the airport with no road through it that attracts airport traffic and it is not near the flight path.

I was in the nearest village to the airport again last week. It's now nearly a small town thanks to the expansion brought about by incomers over the past thirty years who have taken over everything from the parish council to the drama group to the village website (which admittedly is very good, so not everything they do is bad). I know because I lives there in the 1950s when it really was a small village before it was spoilt by the people some of whom now have the neck to complain about airport expansion.

They don't represent the majority either, as the report in the colonial cyberspace rag would suggest.

There are still plenty of long standing village families who have the good sense to realise that an airport brings jobs and prosperity.

SBAE has long issued 'I Object to Bristol Arport Expansion' posters to anyone who asks or who wants to download one from SBAE's internet site, but a tour of the village revealed only one, apart from the house of one of the organisers whose windows were festooned with them.

This has to be contrasted with the response to the proposal to move the village surgery to a super surgery in a neighbouring village. Posters objecting to this are widespread in house windows around the village. This shows the real priorities most of the local residents, even many of the incomers.

As is so often the case in life a vocal, self-important minority tries to impose its views in strident and exaggerated form.

 

[Aviador]

[textarea]Protest planned for Bristol Airport planning meeting

Campaigners fighting £150 million expansion plans at Bristol Airport will protest outside council headquarters in a last-ditch attempt to block the plans. The plans are widely expected to be approved.

North Somerset Council south area planning committee meets on Wednesday to discuss the plans. The authority's planning officers have already recommended that the application be approved, subject to 67 planning conditions and a legal agreement being entered into between the airport and the authority.

Members of Stop Bristol Airport Expansion (SBAE) plan to stage a protest outside the Town Hall ahead of the meeting. SBAE spokeswoman Susan Pearson said: ‘The protest is about making councillors aware of the strength of opposition against the airport expansion plans.’

Source[/textarea]

 

[Aviador]

All 60 or so of them will travel from 'across the country' for this event no doubt, not forgetting the local contingent ie: the local rag who like to muscle in on any SBAE action to show their support.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

A couple of years ago the protestors staged a 'mass cycle ride' on a Saturday to outside the airport to make their feelings known.

Unfortunately for them the weather was somewhat inclement and the mass was rather diluted.

As I've said before, whatever happens on Wednesday almost certainly won't be the end of things.

If the sec of state doesn't call it in for public enquiry the Tories might if they win the general election because one of their high rollers, Liam Fox, is a local MP and doesn't want the expansion to go ahead, though in typical politician sitting-on-the-fence mode he says he is not against expanding the airport per se; it's just he doesn't think the surrounding roads are capable of sustaining it.

We heard all this when the airport was building its new terminal and throughput was 2 mppa. Since then it's been past 6 mppa and may well get back somewhere close this year.

As someone who has known the area intimately since the late 1940s I can honestly say the traffic on the A 38 is no worse than it was in the 1960s before the M5 was built and the A 38 was the trunk road from the Midlands and North to the further South West.

In the 1950s I lived in a small cottage right on the A 38 and lorries ground up the steep hill outside (Redhill, just south of the airport) all night long but it didn't worry us. Now there is no 24 hours-a-day high volume traffic as in those days because the long distant stuff uses the M 5.

 

[Aviador]

[textarea]Village appeal over airport traffic

WORRIED villagers from Barrow Gurney are appealing to North Somerset Council to make sure their parish is protected before agreeing to Bristol Airport's planning application.

Barrow Gurney Parish Council has written to the authority to ask it not to approve the application until it is assured improvements to highways infrastructure will take place.

If the application is approved, the airport has agreed to a number of financial contributions including £4.1m towards the cost of a new link road between the A370 and A38, £200,000 towards traffic calming measures in Barrow Gurney and money towards improving and increasing bus services to and from the airport - particularly from Bristol and Weston.

However, the parish council is concerned that if the South Bristol link road does not go ahead, there will not be enough money available for a similar scheme.

Councillors want the application to be amended so that if the scheme falls through, North Somerset Council will be able to use the full allocation of funding for a similar scheme, rather than just 50 per cent of the money, which has currently been proposed.

The second amendment suggested is a cap on the annual passenger numbers so they do not rise above 10million before 2020 - ensuring the expansion is gradual.

Council chairman Geoff Coombes said: "These amendments will give local people some sort of assurance that the expansion is mediated and measured.

"Previously we strongly objected to the application unless and until the highways infrastructure problems were sorted out.

"This is quite a significant change from that. We hope they listen to us."

Barrow Gurney Parish Council is worried about the effect extra traffic heading to and from the airport will have on the already-congested roads and has asked North Somerset Council to put forward these amendments.

The parish council, which previously objected strongly to the proposal, has stated that it will withdraw its objections if airport chiefs agree to its conditions.

Council spokesman, Richard Turner said: "North Somerset Council hopes the schemes will go ahead. If they don't, then the airport has agreed that 50 per cent of the money will still be made available for local highways schemes.

"The £200,000 for traffic calming measures in Barrow Gurney will still be paid for if the South Bristol Link falls through."

He added: "North Somerset Council will respond to Barrow Gurney's request."

Throughout the planning process, airport chiefs have insisted that the expansion will be gradual to meet with demand and minimise the effect on nearby villages.

The planning application is due to be discussed again at North Somerset's planning and regulatory meeting on April 28 unless a special meeting is called before.

Source[/textarea]

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[textarea]Heathrow Ruling Throws Bristol Airport Expansion into Doubt

Stop Bristol Airport Expansion (SBAE) has welcomed a High Court Ruling today (Friday) which raises serious doubts about the expansion of Bristol Airport.
 
A High Court Judge has ruled that because the Government’s 2003 aviation policy did not fully take into account the effects of climate change, it is not compatible with the Climate Change Act 2008 – effectively making the 2003 policy obsolete.
 
The government’s 2003 policy has been used by North Somerset Council to set its own planning policies regarding the airport.

Councillors are due to vote on Bristol Airport’s expansion plans in the near future.
 
The judge, who was ruling on the Heathrow expansion, also said the impact of increased emissions from airport expansion was also likely to significantly affect the economic case.
 
SBAE spokesman Jeremy Birch said: "We have always argued that the expansion of Bristol Airport made a nonsense of trying to tackle climate change and that the economic case was flawed. 

"The judge stated that the economic case has changed radically since the 2003 White Paper, particularly due to the costs of climate change, and so it can no longer be used as the basis of policy, and should be fully revised and consulted upon.

"North Somerset Council must now reject the plans to expand Bristol Airport.

"The reasons giving by the judge for Heathrow are all equally valid in the case of Bristol Airport.

"Increased flights will increase climate changing emissions, altering the economic argument. On this basis, the airport expansion cannot go ahead until government policy has been thoroughly reviewed.”
 
SBAE has consistently argued that expansion should not go ahead – and that any expansion should cap passenger numbers at eight million until surface access improvements are made and until it is clear that climate change targets can be met.
 
The Climate Change Committee – an independent watchdog created by the act – recently advised the Government that around half of the planned airport expansion in the UK would have to be scrapped if the Government’s own aviation emissions target is to be met and that therefore it needed to review its 2003 aviation expansion policy.[/textarea]

http://www.westonsupermarepeople.co.uk/ ... ticle.html

Predictable response from SBAE but if the Conservatives win the general election this expansion was never going to go ahead on the back of Labour's White Paper of several years back.

The Tories would review the entire aviation scene in the UK, not least because the current proposals everywhere are based on Labour's ideas, and all expansion proposals would go back to the drawing board.
They have already said they would not allow Heathrow's third runway to be built.

In Bristol's case the new western walkway will give it several years' breathing space and will enable it to handle up to 8 mppa even though there would still be terminal passenger crowding at certain times.

 

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The Bristol Evening Post also carried the story set out in the previous post.

My alter ego replied on its website edition as follows.

As usual the UK is cutting off its nose to spite its face. It complies with all EU regulations whilst the likes of France pick and choose which regulations to obey.

Germany is to enlarge its largest airport at Frankfurt by nearly a third so it will become larger than Heathrow and this has been approved by a German court.

China is building new airports at breakneck speed.

People like Liberal Council Leader Barbara Janke oppose the expansion of Bristol Airport then act in a completely hypocritical manner. She used it to fly to a climate change conference in Denmark recently and to fly on a jolly with easyJet from Lulsgate to Filton to celebrate one hundred years of Bristol aviation. Tory MP Liam Fox is another. He is against Bristol Airport expansion yet jets around the world more than many.

It's the same with many of the opponents living near Bristol Airport. Many are not traditional village families going back generations but incomers who commute daily to Bristol clogging the A 38 at rush hour and creating the very carbon emissions and traffic congestion that they complain about in their opposition to airport expansion.

Bristol Airport is a big success and is so looked on in the aviation industry. Despite the gleeful comments of SBAE and its fellow travellers about Bristol Airport's loss of passengers in the recession, the airport actually performed far better than most other UK airports during the downturn and is leading the recovery. Whilst most airport passenger numbers were still down in February, many in double digit percentage figures, Bristol was up 14%.

Bristol is the UK's ninth busiest airport and the third busiest English provincial airport, after Manchester and Birmingham.

This shows the demand that exists. Its Achilles heel is its inability to benefit from this success and meet the increasing demand, and in so doing benefit its customers both business and leisure, by enlarging its infrastructure.

Before anyone says it, Filton would have been a better site and location but that opportunity has gone and will not come back. Blame the politicians of yesteryear for that.

Lulsgate, despite its physical disadvantages, has been a more than adequate substitute and is now the only game in town, so people who want even better air links from Bristol (and they are very good already compared with many regional airports) should support its expansion plans as vociferously as the opponents try to shout them down.

 

[Aviador]

Good write-up TheLocalYokel! I know that particular newspaper does tend to sway to the SBAE views usually. Out of interest do they publish many letters in support of the airport?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I don't actually buy this rag - haven't done for a number of years.

I rely on its web version (This Is Bristol) which elicits instant replies from the public to articles. They do occasionally use one of the web replies to print in the letters section of the newspaper (perhaps they don't have enough letters to publish on some days).

I was told by a friend who is aware of my alter egos that one of my web replies appeared in the newspaper last year but it was not connected with the airport on that occasion.

Usually when airport articles are published on the This Is Bristol web site the response tends to be more pro-airport than anti.