Latest on Bristol airport expansion

A second important meeting took place at the end of last week with North Somerset Council when the Planning and Regulatory Meeting was due to make a decision based on Bristol International Airport’s ‘Masterplan.’

The meeting had been described on the North Somerset Council’s website as the one where a decision would be made about airport expansion. As it happened, the impact of the enormous public response to the December consultation - some 3,700 responses 97% of which were concerned about the harmful effects of expansion - seemed to have had an effect on the North Somerset Councillors. The Councillors resolved simply to ‘note’ the Masterplan, and to register ’significant concerns’ relating to a number of issues including the environmental impacts and the uncertainty of the economic benefit.

North Somerset has also decided that small committees will not be given the full weight of responsibility for decisions about the airport. Given the unprecedented public concern, and the fact that recognition of climate change is growing almost by the week, they want all airport matters to be debated in Full Council. The Council will be requesting ‘independent’ assessments of environmental and economic impacts of the airport’s proposals, although how independent these will be remains to be seen given that they are likely to be funded and possibly even commissioned by the airport.

People who attended the debate said that it this 18 January meeting was more encouraging as the debate seemed to be far better informed than the discussion on 20 December, suggesting that Councillors had studied the consultation responses. What was depressing was the fact that some Councillors argued that climate change was not their reponsibility, and that it was purely for Central Government to solve the problems, even though 3,700 local residents had taken the trouble to tell them that they felt that climate change was the most significant issue in the airport decision.