The Bristol International Airport (BIA) Master Plan
looks at the future development of the airport between now and
2030.
It outlines proposals to increase the annual passenger
capacity of the airport from its current 6 million up to 9 million
by 2015.
This would mean increased use of the airport and the plan
examines the environmental, economic and social impacts of this
planned growth.
The plan also looks at future land use and the 12.5 million
annual passengers expected to use the airport by
2030.
The Master Plan is not a statutory planning document and not a
planning application.
Instead, it is a framework produced by
Bristol International
Airport (BIA) to identify the type and location of future
developments before individual planning applications are formally
submitted.
It provides a basis for ensuring measures to address the key
issues are properly considered, clearly set out and taken forward
transparently.
As such, it is intended to inform the planning process and
provide a mechanism for local communities to engage with the
airport on its future development.
It follows the requirements of the
Government's The
Future of Air Transport White Paper 2003 and identifies
planned developments up to 2015 and indicative proposals
for expansion from 2016 until 2030.
A draft plan underwent a public consultation in November 2005
after which
Bristol International
Airport (BIA) reviewed the comments received publishing a final
version in November 2006.
This final Master Plan was submitted to us for our formal
consideration as a non-statutory planning document
and also underwent a further public consultation
period which ran until 22 December 2006.
More than 4000 comments were received but due to this number of
responses we are unable to reply individually to everybody who has
written to us.
This volume has also caused delays in displaying these responses
on our website.
We apologise for any inconvenience these issues may
have caused.
So far, the plan has been considered at all four of our
Area
Committees,
Strategic Planning and
Economic Development Policy and Scrutiny (SPED)
Panel, Planning and Regulatory
(P&R) Committee and two meetings with parish
councils.
The committees and panel have heard speeches from members of the
public and representatives of various organisations.
The
Planning and Regulatory
(P&R) Committee considered the Master Plan at a special
meeting on 18 January 2007.
It examined it against key national and local policies
relating to aviation as well how it related to
The
Future of Air Transport White Paper 2003 in the light of
the Stern
Review and the Eddington Transport Study.
It recommended
to Full
Council that the Master Plan be noted and
Bristol International
Airport (BIA) advised of its significant concerns.
The Master Plan was noted by
Full
Council on 20 February 2007 with
Bristol International
Airport (BIA) advised of our significant concerns
regarding the following:
- The absence of a viable and sustainable surface access strategy
evidenced by the anticipated growth in private vehicle movements on
local roads, proposed growth in on-site car parking spaces
and proposed expansion outside the original airport perimeter
and the lack of sufficient compensatory subsidised public
transport services
- The need for independent environmental and biodiversity impact
assessment prior to any new development being authorised to answer
the anticipated growth in noise and pollution issues arising from
aircraft and motor cars and also light pollution and water run-off
from existing and planned hard surfaces together with an assessment
of potential solutions
- The need to identify committed funding for works to overcome
the above issues ahead of any new expansion of airport services,
including Regional Assembly, Government and private funding
allocations
- The need for an independent assessment into the economic cost
and benefit impact on local and regional businesses as a result of
the proposed retail expansion, on-site hotel and monopolised car
parking and taxi services
- The need to consider any other detailed issues raised through
the council's internal and public consultation processes and
officers' conclusions
- We call for full consideration of the Stern Report relating to
climate change effects of an expanded airport. We
particularly note the apparent contradiction of expanding Bristol
Airport while calling for reductions from Bristol industry in order
to attain government targets within our Kyoto Treaty obligations
and as outlined in the regional economic strategy of the South West
Regional Authority.
We understand planning applications will start to be submitted
before Easter 2007.
In the meantime with our consultants, we will continue to work
on the detailed issues raised through the consultation process and
pursue its concerns with
Bristol International
Airport (BIA) representatives.
The following consultants' reports have been produced for
us:
To view the final plan download our
Bristol International Airport (BIA) Master Plan
2006 to 2030 document.
Alternatively, hard copies are also available from
Somerset
House in Weston-super-Mare or at any of our
libraries.
The full document and its accompanying summary
report and supporting documents are also available from
the Bristol
International Airport website.
Details of submitted comments are available through
our
Search applications facility under reference
06/P/2701/MP contained within our online
BIA Master Plan case file.
