Airport Master Plan for next 30 Years - Consultation

[superking]

Radio report this morning saying the mayor now rejects airport expansion.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Council passes Green motion against airport expansion - Bristol Green Party

A Green motion passed at yesterday's (8th December) Council meeting commits Bristol Council to opposing Bristol Airport expansion, overturning the administration's previous position of supporting the plans.

bristolgreenparty.org.uk

Bristol City Council Green Party members have finally managed to achieve a vote by the city council members on BRS expansion. Previously the Greens were rebuffed in their attempts to have the matter put to a vote.

Last night the Labour-controlled council voted for a commitment to oppose the airport's expansion plans. The council had formally supported the application when it was determined by North Somerset Council. Bristol's elected Labour mayor is a supporter of the expansion, and a route from the city to the airport is his key route for a proposed city underground transport system although I imagine routes to the outer parts of the city and beyond would not all be sub-surface.

The motion also calls upon the mayor to support councillors who oppose the appeal at the Planning Inspectorate enquiry.

I've not yet been able to find any public reaction from the mayor.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/u-turn-bristol-airport-expansion-4781420

Although this about turn by the city council Labour group is in itself likely to have little impact on the planning inspector’s recommendations (assuming the appeal is eventually recovered by the secretary of state in order to make the decision himself following the planning inspector’s enquiry) it does show that the tide is turning against airport expansion with previously supportive elected representatives now taking the opposite view.

The West of England Combined Authority, South Gloucestershire Unitary Authority and some authorities around Somerset ‘proper’ are still supportive - at the moment.

Some weasel words from city council transport councillor Kye Dudd who is one to have switched to the opposition corner when he said he sympathises with aviation workers but that promising research into carbon-neutral aviation would eventually protect jobs. It might in a generation or two but that is of no consolation to workers at the present time, especially those who have been made redundant because of the pandemic or have been furloughed and will be worrying about the future security of their job.

Mayor Rees who previously supported the expansion is now reported as backing the opposition amendment but said he has no influence over planning inspectors. I wonder what his attitude will be now to another of his pet projects - a Bristol underground system with his anchor route being that to the airport, albeit the lines to the outlining districts would probably be above ground. If BRS is stuck at 10 mppa indefinitely there will be little need for major new improved public transport connectivity.

The Green Party regards the BRS appeal as a test case for the several other airports with planning applications at various states in the planning procedure. No doubt the environmental lobby as a whole feels the same. That being so if BRS should win its appeal there will undoubtedly be legal challenges from this lobby and fellow travellers.

If BRS is prevented from expanding the extra flights that would have occurred there will just displace to other airports so the gaseous emissions that form the core of the objections will still be emitted, only into a different part of the UK’s atmosphere.

The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP) has over 200 billion dollars worth of assets. Although BRS is a profitable asset for OTPP it is a tiny part of their massive portfolio, so one wonders why they are bothering with all the hassle and expense for a couple of million more passengers a year, or even bothering with the airport at all if the genre is becoming a poisonous type of investment. It can only be assumed that if BRS is allowed to grow OTPP sees it as a continuing and increasingly valuable part of its investments.

In the end it will probably be a political decision by the secretary of state.

 

[superking]

Public inquiry for the expansion plans are due to start on the 22nd of july. People have untill feb 22 to submit comments. The inquiry is expected to last 16 days.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Public inquiry for the expansion plans are due to start on the 22nd of july. People have untill feb 22 to submit comments. The inquiry is expected to last 16 days.

I don't know whether the public enquiry will be in a remote form having regard to the pandemic. If it is to take place in 'real life' I'm not aware of the venue.

We know that BRS is seeking to have its current passenger planning cap of 10 mppa raised to 12 mppa as part of the planning application that was refused and is being appealed. The ultimate aim is 20 mppa by the 2040s.

Some of the objections revolve around the argument that expansion is not necessary because there are other underused airports that could take the extra flights that BRS expansion would bring about.

Any successful business that is forced to cease growing through external influences unconnected with the health of the business is not something that any owner would welcome.

Given that BRS has no long-haul scheduled services, only transatlantic holiday flights, the extremely strong and vibrant city region economy already relies heavily on LHR for its inter-continental business travel, something that would be unaffected if BRS is capped permanently at 10 mppa. What would undoubtedly feel the impact of a passenger-constrained BRS is short-haul business and leisure travel.

Apart from Heathrow other airports within reach of the BRS primary catchment are Birmingham, Cardiff, Exeter and Southampton.

I've had a look at both road and rail connectivity to the other airports using AA Route Planner and National Rail Enquiries respectively. I took Bristol city centre (road) and Temple Meads station (rail) as the starting points. Timings will obviously vary depending where in the catchment someone lives.

Heathrow Airport

Road: 1 hour 57 minutes 105.7 miles. Rail: mainly 2 hours 16 minutes with one change. There are also regular National Express services to LHR (currently suspended).

Cardiff Airport

Road: 1 hour 21 minutes 57.5 miles. Rail: mainly 1 hour 42/44 minutes with one change

Exeter Airport

Road: 1 hour 28 minutes 77.2 miles. Rail: nothing shown to airport but Temple Meads to Exeter St Davids station is mainly 58 minutes/1 hour direct

Birmingham Airport

Road: 1 hour 40 minutes 96.1 miles. Rail: 1 hour 44 minutes with one change

Southampton

Road: 1 hour 48 minutes 99.9 miles.* Rail: mainly 2 hours 1 minute with one change

* there is a shorter road route via Salisbury (75.5 miles) but it is across country and is shown as 2 hours 9 minutes

Some of the inclusive AA road timings seem slightly generous. Outside peak times and without breaking any speed limits I can usually reach LHR from my home on the edge of south-east Bristol about ten minutes quicker than the AA suggests, although the AA estimate might currently factor in the 30-mile section of the M4 mainly in Berkshire undergoing 'smart motorway' preparation works that has a lower speed limit along its entire length.

Everyone connected with BRS naturally hopes the appeal will be successful but, if it isn't, the above gives an idea of the alternatives, although with the pandemic skewing aviation everywhere it might now be three or four years before BRS is back approaching its current 10 mppa cap. Surface connectivity with other airports from the BRS catchment might have altered by then.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The West of England Combined Authority (Weca) is reportedly in 'crunch' talks with the four constituent councils of the former county of Avon area (Bristol City, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset) with Weca coming under pressure to alter its support stance for the airport's appeal. Currently only South Gloucestershire unitary authority is in favour along with Weca after Bristol City Council did a U-turn and joined B&NES and North Somerset councils in opposition to the expansion.

Some councils in Somerset 'proper' are also in favour of the expansion.

'Private' crunch talks on Bristol Airport expansion criticised

Region's leaders are thrashing out combined authority's official stance

www.bristolpost.co.uk

 

[TheLocalYokel]

A long article appeared on the Bristol Live website (the internet version of the Bristol Post newspaper, formerly Bristol Evening Post) last month setting out the arguments from both sides likely to be voiced at the public enquiry part of the airport's appeal procedure against its planning expansion application rejection by North Somerset unitary authority. See the link to the full article at the end of this post.

The article focuses on three opposition groups: Bristol Airport Action Network, Parish Councils Airport Association and StopBristolAirportExpansion. It also outlines the airport's case. I've set out a summary of the respective arguments below:

Opposition Groups' Case

1. A Bristol Green Party councillor who is a member of the Bristol Airport Action Network said around 20 regional airports are considering expansion, with Bristol the first airport to go to appeal which makes it 'really important as a precedent'. A 'lot of international organisations' are assisting Bristol Airport Action Network with its opposition which has helped them pay for a barrister and experts to support their case at the public enquiry.

2. The Green Party councillor also said the aviation industry is relying on technological advances such as electric or hydrogen power that may eventually improve fuel efficiency but will not be able to offset the extra 23,000 flights per year (my comment - I don't know where the extra 23,000 figure came from but that would equate to an average load of just under 87 passengers per flight which is much less than the average per flight at BRS pre-pandemic).

3. He went on to say, 'We aren’t trying to close the airport or even reduce the capacity. We’re saying it’s big enough. As a regional airport it shouldn’t be any bigger'.

4. The councillor added that the people of North Somerset are 'completely against' the expansion with 8,900 objections in the total of over 11,500 comments to the local authority planning portal (my comment - he failed to make clear that many of the objections were from people and organisations outside North Somerset, some from outside the region and some from outside the country, as the environmental industry had acted to promote widespread objections).

5. The Parish Councils Airport Association will highlight the effect of emissions but will also express its concerns about noise, traffic, the impact on habitats and the loss of green belt land. Its membership consists of a group of 26 parishes and one town council in the area and they together with StopBristolAirport Expansion have raised £16,000 for a legal team to act for them at the public enquiry.

6. The chairwoman of the Parish Councils group who is a longstanding member of the BRS consultative committee believes that the airport should compromise although it's not clear what she means by that, unless it's code for withdrawing the appeal. She says it's an 'ecological emergency' and expansion 'just doesn't fit'.

7. She believes opponents have a 'much fairer chance' if the planning inspector is allowed to make the decision rather than the secretary of state doing so.

8. A representative of StopBristolAirportExpansion thinks it's 'very difficult to predict how the appeal will go' but he believes that opponents have 'a reasonable chance'.

9. The leader of North Somerset unitary authority said his council has assembled a team of specialist consultants to mount a 'robust defence' of its position, with a senior QC 'at the helm'.

10. The North Somerset councillor for Wrington whose motion led to the planning refusal said, 'We must weigh the benefits – which flow towards the airport, its shareholders, pension funds and those seeking a cheap holiday in the Med – against the unbearable burdens that will fall on the local community and the environment.'

Bristol Airport's Case

1. The airport CEO said that if the airport is unable to expand it risked 'putting the brakes on' the future growth of the region when other areas are forging ahead.

2. The airport was recently allowed to submit updated information to the Planning Inspectorate in the light of the pandemic (about which people and organisations were allowed to comment via North Somerset's planning portal) which stated that passenger number growth will be slower with 12 mppa not now expected to be reached until 2030 which is four years later than the pre-pandemic forecast. However, the expansion is still needed.

3. The article concluded with this lengthy statement from the airport:

'The decision by North Somerset Council’s planning and regulatory committee to refuse the planning application to increase Bristol Airport’s capacity from 10 to 12million passengers a year was contrary to the recommendation of the council’s own planning officers.
The decision on the application has moved to a national level and will be made by an independent planning inspector or, if the appeal is recovered, by the Government.
A comprehensive package of measures is also proposed to minimise the adverse environmental impacts of an additional two million passengers per annum. By preventing Bristol Airport from meeting demand for air travel from within the region it serves, the council will simply exacerbate the situation which already sees millions of passengers a year from our region drive to London airports in order to fly, creating carbon emissions and congestion in the process.
As the UK emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic it is essential that all regions of the country are given the opportunity to grow to their full potential and contribute to the national recovery effort. International trade and connectivity will become increasingly important as the UK completes its departure from the European Union – increasing aviation capacity is essential in delivering this goal.
The plans to expand capacity at the airport will offer passengers more routes and flights from the South West directly, create jobs, facilitate inward investment and inbound tourism, and support greener and more sustainable, regional economic growth.
Sustainable development has always been at the centre of Bristol Airport’s plans. The expansion proposals sit alongside a roadmap which sets out how the airport will achieve its ambition to become carbon neutral for direct emissions by 2025 and a net zero airport by 2050.

How the legal fight on Bristol Airport's expansion will play out

Campaigners have raised thousands to bolster North Somerset Council's position

www.bristolpost.co.uk

 

[TheLocalYokel]

email circulated by Bristol Airport today regarding the planning appeal inviting comments to the Planning Inspectorate which must be submitted by 22 February 2021.

​

 

[Seasider]

Do you have a link so that we can comment?

 

[superking]

Airport website possable. Just looked at airport website and go to site map and it comes under airport expansion appeal. Click on that and all the information you want is there.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Do you have a link so that we can comment?

Have your say on the airport’s future plans​

Bristol Airport is appealing the decision by North Somerset Council to reject its plans to expand capacity to serve 12 million passengers a year. The plans include improvements to existing facilities and operational changes to ensure the airport can continue to meet the demand for air travel to and from the South West in a sustainable way. There is now an opportunity for all people interested in Bristol Airport’s expansion to submit their views to the Planning Inspectorate. To submit your comments:​ Visit the portal on the Planning Inspectorate website > Search under the reference number: 3259234 and click 'Make Representation' Quote the appeal reference: APP/D0121/W/20/3259234 The deadline for submissions is Monday, 22nd February 2021.​ Visit Planning Inspectorate site >

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The CBI is backing the airport's planning appeal. At the local authority planning meeting that rejected the application now subject of appeal the CBI spoke in support of the application as did the trade union, Unite, together with others in industry and commerce.

CBI backs Bristol Airport's expansion appeal

The plans were rejected by councillors in North Somerset last year

www.business-live.co.uk

 

[superking]

In the Weston mercury this week is a write up telling us about a video to see on youtube. Its about the group Bristol airport action network (BAAN). Its all about a year in protests against the airport planning. To watch the documentary log on to www.youtube.com/ watch?v=E6righavgus. This is the only link i can find to watch the video The film is called the plane truth.

 

[kfs]

Working link to film above.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

In the Weston mercury this week is a write up telling us about a video to see on youtube. Its about the group Bristol airport action network (BAAN). Its all about a year in protests against the airport planning. To watch the documentary log on to www.youtube.com/ watch?v=E6righavgus. This is the only link i can find to watch the video The film is called the plane truth.

Working link to film above.

BAAN - Bristol Airport Action Network: SBAE - StopBristolAirportExpansion; ER - Extinction Rebellion; FOTE- Friends of the Earth.

Just some of the organisations that have either been formed to oppose BRS expansion or are existing environmental groups that spend a lot of time following the same purpose. For a fairly small regional airport BRS receives probably more than its fair share of attention from many people who see it as a form of mini Heathrow set amidst the rolling hills of North Somerset.

Because probably not all members follow all airport threads on F4A it might be useful to set out the current situation with other airports that are in various stages of planning applications.

Bristol

In February 2020 the North Somerset Unitary Authority planning committee rejected the airports's planning application to have its current planning cap of 10 mppa raised to 12 mppa with infrastructure enhancement to meet that level of passengers. The decision was confirmed at a further planning committee meeting a month later. The rejection was contrary to the local authority planning officers' advice who recommended approval.

The airport subsequently appealed to the national Planning Inspectorate. The major part of this process will be a public enquiry scheduled to last four weeks in July this year. The planning inspector or inspectors conducting the enquiry can determine the appeal but it's far more likely that the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (currently Robert Jenrick) will 'recover' the appeal and take the decision himself, taking into account the recommendations of the planning inspector or inspectors. It's likely that a final decision won't be arrived at until towards the end of this year, and it might be anticipated that opponents will attempt to launch a judicial review if the decision goes in favour of the airport.

Stansted

In November 2018 Uttlesford District Council planning committee voted to approve a planning application from the airport that would allow it to grow from 35 mppa to 43 mppa. However, in June 2019 a residents group gained control of the council and voted to return the application to the planning committee. This was against the advice of its own planning officers and independent legal advice. In January 2020 the council planning committee rejected the application, again contrary to the advice of its own planning officers.

The airport owners subsequently appealed and a public enquiry into the matter has just concluded. The local authority put up a tepid defence of its position and the local opposition group has all but thrown in the towel as a result. The public enquiry ended two weeks ahead of schedule. The decision of the three planning inspectors conducting the enquiry is expected in three months time although the secretary of state might decide to recover the appeal and make the final decision. Opponents and supporters of the appeal anticipate it going the airport's way with the local authority likely to be landed with costs because of its 'unreasonable behaviour', estimated at a seven-figure sum.

Leeds-Bradford

In 2020 the airport applied to Leeds City Council for planning permission to build a £150 million state-of-the-art terminal. The matter was approved by the planning committee in February in accordance with its planning officers' advice, subject to a number of conditions. Subsequently a further planning committee meeting was held that confirmed the planning approval with a handful of outstanding matters to be dealt with by the council's planning officers and the chairperson and vice chairperson of the planning committee. It's not thought that this will lead to any difficulty.

Southampton

The airport has applied for a 164-metre runway extension. It says that the extension is vital to the future of the airport. The application will be heard by Eastleigh Borough Council next Thursday (25 March). The application has been recommended for approval by the council's planning officers, but as with the other airports there is much organised opposition.

A running theme through the four planning applications mentioned above is that in each case the authorities' own planning officers recommended approval but in two cases the elected councillors on the planning committees rejected that advice. Only at Leeds did the councillors follow their officers' advice. We await Eastleigh Borough Council's planning councillors' decision.

 

[kraktoa]

After last nights riots in Bristol city centre by the hire for violence mobs it does not augur well for any future Bristol expansion appeal plans. The drum beats at the start of the protests were the same rhythm and percussion sound that features in most the of the videos against Bristol expansion. The violence that follows this band of marauders is the bane of our society. It will get ugly, very ugly in the next year.

 

[tpm]

Could just as well work in its favour though - "have to follow the law, can't give in to a small violent mob etc etc"

 

[Coathanger16]

Working link to film above.

Only managed to watch half before turning it off, but the thing that always strikes me about these groups is the hypocrisy of the groups claiming the industry won't listen.

Years ago I tried engaging with these kind of groups and I was accused of being on an airports payroll as they thought that was the only reason why I could possibly want any airport to expand. Any explanation you tried to give them would be dismissed without consideration as lies or propaganda.

As much as they complain at the industry for not listening and not engaging with them, they too are guilty of those claims, if even to a worse extent.

I've since given up trying to engage with them. You could put them on a zero emission, silent plane and they'd still find some reason as to why aviation shouldn't expand.

Another thing that struck me in the video was all the shots of green, open spaces and complaints of flights flying over these and areas of natural beauty. Similar complaints have been made about Gatwick. At Heathrow, the complaints are that aircraft fly over built up, urban areas. So if planes shouldn't fly over open countryside, and they shouldn't fly over urban areas, where should they fly? The answer inevitably is either that they are only concerned about flights in their local area (i.e. NIMBY) or they think all of aviation should be grounded. The former frankly makes them irrelevant, whereas the latter is never going to happen in a globalised civilisation.

I'm not ignorant of aviations impact on climate, but say if the aim was to reduce all emissions by 80%, if aviation emissions stayed at their current level, all other sectors would have to reduce their emissions by just 82%. If aviation tripled its emissions, all other sectors would have to reduce their emissions by 86%. Considering how hard it is to decarbonise aviation, and the economic and social hit that constraining aviation would have, reducing other emissions by between 2% and 6% more seems a fair cost IMHO.

 

[Jerry]

It's a very interesting video, it does show how a bigger organisation joining them like Extinction Rebellion helped them with the profile of their campaign. I did get a sense of NIMBYism but you have to ask could the airport have done more to address their concerns? ie building car parks on green belt land.
At the end of the video i did get a sense smugness that they've won without maybe acknowledging that it was only one battle and that their fears of a Conservative government being in favour of the airport expanding could be realised.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It's a very interesting video, it does show how a bigger organisation joining them like Extinction Rebellion helped them with the profile of their campaign. I did get a sense of NIMBYism but you have to ask could the airport have done more to address their concerns? ie building car parks on green belt land.
At the end of the video i did get a sense smugness that they've won without maybe acknowledging that it was only one battle and that their fears of a Conservative government being in favour of the airport expanding could be realised.

I doubt that anything the airport did, short of closing down, would satisfy this group of people. The airport is situated in the middle of a Green Belt so is limited where it can build extra infrastructure. There is a Green Belt inset on the North side which effectively removes that area from the Green Belt. Any future significant expansion would require more land to be put into insets. The airport has one multi-storey car park in the inset with two more likely to be built if things go well for it with the planning regime.

I don't know whether a Conservative government would necessarily look more favourably at the airport's expansion aspirations than a Labour administration.

What I do think is that when an important planning application concerns a major regional facility the matter should not be left in the hands of one local authority. In this case North Somerset unitary authority is the responsible authority although there are residents in neighbouring local authority areas who live closer to the airport than some people who live in North Somerset.

When North Somerset radically changed political colour from its Conservative dominance at the May 2019 local elections and turned itself into a 'rainbow' council, many of the new councillors had adopted an anti-airport expansion stance prior to the election and nine months later several were on the planning committee that determined the application. In such circumstances it's hard to think that any evidence the airport and supporters might have produced would have brought about a change of mind on their part.

Going back to the four examples of current airports planning applications that I set out in an earlier post, in each case the professional council planning officers recommended approval but in two of the cases the elected councillors ignored the advice. I'd like to see airport major planning applications go immediately to planning inspectors who are professional and are well aware of the law as well as local and national planning guidance. Councillors invariably are not and often vote with their heart as well as being under local pressures to which planning inspectors are not subjected.

In this case whatever view the planning inspector or inspectors take would satisfy me that it is the correct one. Almost certainly though the secretary of state will 'recover' the matter after the inspector(s) have completed the enquiry. He will take the inspector(s)' recommendations into account but is not bound by them.

 

[Coathanger16]

Going back to the four examples of current airports planning applications that I set out in an earlier post, in each case the professional council planning officers recommended approval but in two of the cases the elected councillors ignored the advice. I'd like to see airport major planning applications go immediately to planning inspectors who are professional and are well aware of the law as well as local and national planning guidance. Councillors invariably are not and often vote with their heart as well as being under local pressures to which planning inspectors are not subjected.

Exactly this. The inhabitants of North Somerset aren't the sole users, staff, beneficiaries and impacted by the airport, so why should they have sole control over its future?

At the very least, the council the airport is located in should be joined by all the adjoining councils in voting on any airport expansion.