Plans to expand Bristol International Airport
(BIA) have been recommended for approval by North Somerset
Council's South Area committee.
A 170-page report on BIA's application was considered by the
committee on Wednesday 3 March.
The committee's recommendation to approve the
application will now go to the council's main planning and
regulatory committee for a final decision. A date for this
meeting will be announced shortly.
Approval of the application is subject to a total of 69 planning
conditions and a legal agreement being entered into by BIA and the
council.
This legal agreement will secure a number of financial
contributions from BIA including:
- £4.108m towards the cost of a new link road between the A370
and A38
- £1.25m 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 BIA 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 has consulted widely on the application including
consulting with:
- nine adjoining/regional local authorities
all town and parish councils in North Somerset
- All members of the Parish Council Airport Association, which
includes parish councils outside North Somerset
- MPs
- Government Office for the South West
- residents in more than 400 nearby properties.
Over 5,500 comments have been received by the council. Around
5,180 raise objection to the application with the majority of these
- over 4,600 - coming in the form of a pre-printed 'postcard'.
Around 320 letters of support have been received.
If the Planning and Regulatory Committee accepts South Area's
recommendation and approves the application, the following will
happen.
Due to the scale of the development within the Green Belt, the
application will have to be referred to the Secretary of State. He
can either allow the council to go ahead and issue its decision or
"call in" the application and have a public inquiry.
South Area also recommended that the Secretary of State look
closely at the environmental impact of the proposed
development.
More information can be found on the
Bristol International
Airport report presented to the South Area committee.
