Campaigners against Bristol Airport’s expansion greeted passengers arriving for evening flights on the longest day of the year with a mass protest at the entrance to the airport. The coalition of groups opposed to the expansion - the Bristol Airport Action Network - lost a lengthy legal battle to stop it in the courts last month, clearing the way for the airport to expand its operations and buildings to increase capacity from 10 million passengers a year at the moment, to 12 million a year.
The Bristol Airport Action Network held up banners and posters telling the airport ‘we are watching you’ - as they pledged to monitor the expansion and the results of it, to make sure the airport doesn’t breach all the conditions imposed by the planning authorities.
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Dozens of people, including some dressed as aeroplane marshals, picketed outside the main roundabout entrance to the airport for a couple of hours on Wednesday evening.
May Collett from BAAN said: “What an amazing turnout. It’s great to be able to publicly re-state our objections to airport expansion.
“The vast majority of local people didn’t want Bristol airport to expand - in fact every local level of democracy voted against it. But here we are - the decision taken away from local people. So all we can do now is make sure Bristol Airport doesn't flout its planning conditions. We hope we can help local people to still have a voice and to be able to state their concerns. We’d urge them to watch what happens at the airport & note anything that concerns them by tweeting & tagging #EyesOnBristolAirport,” she added.
"Bristol Airport have stated that ultimately they want to expand a lot more - up to as many as 20 million passengers. So that further expansion plan, combined with evidence that other airports are exceeding their flight quotas, means that we all need to keep our eyes out, keep watching and hold Bristol Airport to account,” she said.
The network of campaigners said they will be monitoring the effects of the expansion as it happens, checking things like night-flights, noise, pollution and traffic congestion. The airport has agreed a list of planning conditions it has to abide by as the expansion happens.
The airport expansion plan was backed by mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees but opposed by Bristol City Council ’s councillors. It’s in North Somerset, where council planners there turned it down. The airport went to appeal, and a Government planning inspector granted permission, and two subsequent attempts to challenge and overturn that decision ultimately failed in the courts.
“Many people in the local community are exasperated and frustrated following the ruling by the UK Court of Appeal that turned down our submission that challenged the legality of the decision by the Planning Inquiry of 2021,” said Richard Baxter, one of the members of BAAN’s co-ordinating committee.
“We still feel the decision is vastly short-sighted and ill-conceived on many levels. The strength of opposition to the growth of the airport and the worries of increased greenhouse gas emissions were completely ignored by the Planning Inspectors and the courts. Local democracy has been trashed and the impact on the environment was deemed to be inconsequential. This is putting profit and greed before people and planet,” he added.
After the courts ruled the expansion could go ahead, airport chief executive Dave Lees said the extra capacity would create 800 jobs at the airport, and up to 5,000 more in the wider Bristol and North Somerset economy, giving a boost of £430 million to the south west.
“The decision is excellent news for our region’s economy, allowing us to create up to 5,000 new jobs, deliver more international destinations for the South West and South Wales, and invest hundreds of millions of pounds improving the customer experience. We will do this while working towards our ambitious target of net zero carbon operations by 2030. We look forward to working with stakeholders and the community to deliver our vision to be everyone’s favourite airport,” he said.
