BRISTOL AIRPORT PUBLIC INQUIRY
After over 40 days of submissions, the Inquiry has now ended. The Inspectors will now compile their report and a decision is expected in January.
A panel of three independent inspectors will consider the appeal with an independent program officer administering the inquiry arrangements on their behalf. All the main participants, including the council and the airport, have submitted their full proofs of evidence to the inspectors setting out the details of their respective cases for the inspectors to consider during the inquiry.
An inquiry website - https://gateleyhamer-pi.com/en-gb/bristol-airport/ - has been set up by the program officer where these and other related documents can be viewed.
A detailed schedule of sitting days, setting out when specific topics are to be discussed, will be published on the inquiry website and will be updated regularly. The website will also include the link to watch proceedings live via YouTube. Recordings of previous sessions of the inquiry will be made available to view within two working days. www.northsomersetlife.co.uk/news/watch-bristol-airport-appeal-live-online
The Aviation Communities Forum (ACF) wrote to the Secretary of State asking him to commission a far-reaching review of the aviation industry, and the regulatory mechanisms through which it is overseen, in the light of the series of failures that have impacted the industry over the last year, culminating in the Covid 19 pandemic.
They argued that these events, spelled out in the letter, have had very significant environmental, health, and financial costs and collectively amount to a systemic failure of the industry, its regulators, and policymakers. The ACF said that this must be addressed in forthcoming aviation policy in a way that the 2018 Green Paper failed to do. Finally, they said that the intention to carry out a review should be a condition of, and announced in parallel with, any “bailout” of UK aviation businesses resulting from the impacts of the Covid 19 pandemic.
A copy of the letter can be seen using the link below.
https://www.airportwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/REFORMING-AVIATION-LETTER-TO-THE-SECRETARY-OF-STATE.pdf.
Bristol Airport planning application 18/P/5118/OUT
NSC planning committee will be meeting on the 18th March for the ratification of their decision on the above planning application.
Bristol Airport
On 10th February, North Somerset Council refused the Bristol Airport planning application for growth to 12 mppa. This is good news for residents living under the flight path and those affected by airport parking.
But more than that, it is the beginning of the change required to reduce our carbon emissions to ensure a sustainable future for the next generations.
We fully expect Bristol Airport to appeal, but change is coming as the third runway at Heathrow has been ruled unlawful by the Court of Appeal. The judgement stated that planners must take account of the Paris Agreement and non-C02 impacts, such as nitrogen oxides. This will also apply at the Bristol Airport appeal.
From NSC:
The planning application to expand Bristol Airport has been rejected by North Somerset Council on 10th February 2020.
At the opening of the debate at the special Planning and Regulatory committee meeting, Cllr Steve Hogg (Wrington) proposed a motion calling on members to refuse the application. Following a lengthy debate, councilors voted 18 in support of the motion and seven against with one abstention.
Because the refusal of the application is against the officers' recommendation, the council’s procedure for applications of this scale is that the decision will be held over until a future meeting of the Planning and Regulatory Committee for it to be ratified. If the decision is ratified, the applicant will have six months to lodge an appeal which would then be heard at a public inquiry.
Cllr Don Davies, Leader of the Council said: "The airport currently handles just over eight million passengers and can still expand to the 10 million passengers a year limit it already has, so more people will still be able to fly from there and the number of people who work there should not be affected.
"What the committee has considered is that the detrimental effect of the expansion of the airport on this area and the wider impact on the environment outweighs the narrower benefits to airport expansion.
"I know some people will be upset by this decision and I am sure that we can reconsider it in future when the airline industry has decarbonised and the public transport links to the airport are far stronger.”
The committee meeting lasted for four and a half hours as both supporters of the application and objectors made their views known. The proceedings were viewed by about 200 people split across two rooms at the Town Hall while over 4,800 watched the debate live online with an average watch time of about 27 minutes.
The latest information on the potential date for determination of the Bristol Airport planning application is mid-January 2020 or later. Anyone who is interested in the application can view new documents which have been recently placed on the planning page on the issue of ecology. This includes the Habitats Regulations Assessment. There is still time to put an objection to the Bristol Airport application at North Somerset Council. The reference number is 18/P/5118/OUT.
Update on Bristol Airport
The Campaign to Protect Rural England has commissioned a report from the New Economic Foundation (NEF). The report has been produced by a respected independent consultancy. The report completely demolishes the economic rationale for the expansion of Bristol Airport. The report is available HERE and HERE. It shows that the economic benefits for expansion are grossly exaggerated. The airport to date has not costed the negative impacts of expansion - the impacts on health through poorer air quality, the impacts of the climate emergency such as more flooding or the cost of new infrastructure to the airport (for which the public will have to pay when there are so many other, better ways of using the money). Any public investment in airport expansion is likely to be wasted in the near future as the climate crisis takes hold and air travel becomes restricted. Indeed, the report shows that the only way the U.K. can meet its carbon commitments of Net Zero Emissions by 2050 is to constrain Airport expansion. The report recommends that North Somerset Council reject the application.
PCAA responses:
PCAA response to a comment by Bristol Airport can be found HERE
PCAA response to the road map by Bristol Airport can be found HERE
Bristol Airport is Big Enough – Help Stop Further Expansion
Help to fund a legal challenge on the planning application
Today 2 July, a group of environmental activists and local residents launched a crowd-funding initiative via the well-regarded ‘Crowdjustice’ platform to seek funds from people who are concerned with the expansion of Bristol Airport. The money raised will pay for a leading barrister to provide expert advice on the Bristol Airport application. We need to raise the money quickly to stop an extra 23,600 air transport movements a year which will bring increased noise and pollution. The expansion will turn neighbouring green belt land into a car park and create greater congestion on local roads. The aviation sector is the fastest growing source of greenhouses gases.
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/bristol-airport-is-big-enough/
Contact: Hilary Burn
hilaryburn@live.co.uk
Draft response from the PCAA on the Aviation 2050 for comment + other items found HERE
PCAA response to planning application 19/P/0704/FUL found HERE
Cleeve PC response to the Aviation 2050 found HERE
Cleeve PC response to planning application 19/P/0704/FUL found HERE
Update from the PCAA
Please watch the video in the link below. It has been produced by children from North Somerset and is aimed towards Ontario Teachers who are the majority owner of Bristol Airport.
The video is available at the website
http://www.stopbristolairportexpansion.org/news/
and on YouTube
https://youtu.be/HwpB6aLOnVU
Airport planning application 18/P/5118/OUT we are still unsure when this application will be determined. Although an application for car parking at Junction 21 has been submitted to North Somerset Council it has not yet been validated and not been placed on the weekly register.
A presentation to the PCAA meeting on 18 July is currently being arranged. It will be from the Independent Commission on Civil Aviation Noise (ICCAN). This is a newly formed organisation and we shall be sending out more information nearer the time. It is an opportunity for those parishes under the flight path and who have major concerns about aircraft noise to help ICCAN understand how communities feel about noise and give viable solutions for ICCAN to consider.
The West of England Joint Spatial Plan Examination timetable is now available and is running from 2 July to 11 October 2019. Within the timetable there is no mention of Bristol Airport. We now know from two Freedom of Information questions that no growth at Bristol Airport has been considered within the Plan and also from a comment by Highways England to the airport planning application. Yet throughout the consultations, and particularly the transport consultations, there is an assumption that Bristol Airport will expand during the Plan period to 2036. The PCAA has responded to all the consultations since 2016 highlighting sustainability issues especially carbon emissions from increased aircraft and vehicle movements, further car parking on the green belt, loss of habitat for a protected species the Greater and Lesser Horseshoe Bat. We also commented on the airport becoming a strategic employment zone. I have written to the administrator requesting that the PCAA have an opportunity to comment on the Plan. We have been offered a slot in ‘Matter 5’ which is to comment on the employment zone which we will accept. We shall also be submitting a further written response. The employment zone sits in the green belt so we will be able to bring up many of the sustainability issues such as transport and green belt.
The Committee on Climate Change is reporting in early May on aviation emissions. We shall then write a response to the consultation titled ‘Aviation 2050: The future of UK aviation’ which will be circulated.
Master Plan Consultation - Stage II Development Proposals and Options May 2018
PCAA Response to Master Plan Consultation - Stage II Development Proposals and Options May 2018
Letter from Dr. Liam Fox to the Secretary of State
Please see the below links for further information on Bristol Airport. Cleeve Parish Council has not participated in the development of the sites but is happy to share them to help to provide information to our parishioners.
SBAE website - http://www.stopbristolairportexpansion.org/
SBAE Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/stopbristolairportexpansion/