Agendas, Minutes and Reports

Minutes

of the Meeting of the

Strategic Planning and

Economic Development Policy

and Scrutiny Panel

Wednesday 20th December 2006

held at the Town Hall, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.

Meeting Commenced: 3.30 p.m. Meeting Concluded: 7.02 p.m.

Present: Councillors Elfan Ap Rees (Chairman), Clive Webb (Vice-Chairman), Nigel Ashton (substitute for Peter Burden), John Clark, Wendy Griggs (substitute for Andy Wright), David Shopland and James Tonkin (substitute for Mark Canniford)

Apologies for absence: Councillors Burden, Canniford and Wright

Also in attendance: Councillors John Crockford-Hawley (Executive Member for Strategic Planning and Transport), Alan Hockridge (Executive Member for Economic Development), Ian Baker, Jeremy Blatchford, Robert Coleman, Andy Cole, Bob Cook, Ann Harley, David Jolley, Tom Leimdorfer, Audrey Telling, Roz Willis and Deborah Yamanaka

SPE

Public Discussion – Bristol International Airport Master Plan (Agenda Item 1)

(1) Anne Upton

Anne Upton, local resident and bed and breakfast proprietor, advised that her business turnover was down and that very few visitors to her establishment had travelled via Bristol International Airport. She queried the research of the BIA regarding the number of visitors to the area, and their origin.

(2) Pip Sheard, Transport for Greater Bristol Alliance

Pip Sheard, a member of the Alliance, expressed opposition to the BIA Master Plan on the grounds that it worked against North Somerset’s transport policies of reducing congestion and car travel, promoting alternative modes of transport, and reducing greenhouse gases. It was argued that the expansion of the airport would substantially increase the number of cars appearing on the highways network, and it was queried whether the traffic model prepared by BIA consultants was accurate. The BIA was challenged to show its green credentials by removing the maximum fare on the Bristol International Flyer bus and introducing more competitive prices.

(3) Stephen Kinsella

Stephen Kinsella pointed out that in 2001 North Somerset had signed the Nottingham Declaration whereby local authorities agreed to work with Central Government to reduce climate change emissions (by 60 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050). Mr. Kinsella calculated that the figures for emissions in the BIA Master Plan meant that by 2010 greenhouse gas emissions arising from airport flights would rise to 1.4 million tonnes per year, so all other emissions in North Somerset would have to reduce by 73 per cent. He considered this was not achievable and that “offsetting” and carbon trading would not realise the necessary savings.

(4) Dr. Angela Raffle, Bristol Medact

Dr. Raffle considered that the expansion of the Airport would adversely affect health, and referred to greenhouse emissions and their effect on climate change. Members were urged not to look carefully at all the evidence and arguments, including the Medact’s written submission, together with the Executive Summary of the Stern Report. North Somerset was urged to follow the example of Uttesford Council who had rejected the proposed expansion of Stansted Airport.

(5) Mike Williams

Mr. Williams, a local resident, advised that he was in favour of the BIA expansion. He considered that aircraft were a very efficient means of transport, particularly because they carried higher passenger loads than other forms of transport, and their efficient use of hydrocarbon fuels. Mr. Williams advised that his main concern about the BIA expansion was the poor local transport system.

In response to a question from Wrington Parish Council regarding their participation in under the public discussion agenda item, the Chairman pointed out that as a parish council they would not be restricted to the 3 minute limitation under Agenda Item 1 but were invited to take part in the full debate under Agenda Item 6.1

SPE

Declaration of Interest (Agenda Item 3)

Councillor Bateman declared in a non-prejudicial interest in the BIA Master Plan by virtue of being employed by a company which worked for the aircraft industry.

SPE

Minutes – 11th December 2006 (Agenda Item 4.1)

Resolved: that the minutes be approved as a correct record.

SPE

Bristol International Airport Master Plan (Agenda Item 6.1)

The representative of the Director of Development and Environment at the initiative of the Chairman, briefly outlined the process for considering the BIA Master Plan.

The Chairman invited representatives of Bristol International Airport (Andrew Skipp, Managing Director and Alan Davies, Financial Director) to give a presentation on the BIA Master Plan. The salient points of the presentation were as follows (a hard copy has been placed on the signed minute book):-

(1) Master Plan – national policy context

i. Future of Air Transport White Paper published in December 2003

ii Balanced approach to the sustainable development of airport capacity

iii Support for development of Bristol International Airport to handle forecast growth to 10 to 12m passengers per annum by 2030

iv Airports to produce master plans with airport-specific proposals

v Government reaffirmed its commitment to the White Paper strategy in its December 2006 progress report

(2) Why is demand forecast to rise?

i. Future of Air Transport White Paper published in December 2003

ii Balanced approach to the sustainable development of airport capacity

iii Aviation’s contribution to economic development

iv People’s aspiration to travel

(3) Master Plan – regional and local planning context

i. Draft Regional Spatial Strategy

ii. Aims to meet more of the South West’s demand for air travel within the region

iii. Concerns about the sustainability implications of growth in air travel

iv. North Somerset Replacement Local Plan

v. Development within green belt inset on the north side of airfield supported

vi. Master Plan will not have statutory development plan status

(4) Master Plan development

i. Over two years consultation

ii. Draft Master Plan published in October 2005

iii. Leaflets distributed through local community; five exhibitions and key stakeholder workshop

iv. Final Master Plan published November 2006

v. Many significant changes made to our proposals to reflect the comments received

(5) Bristol International today

i. 5.6 million passengers this year

ii 110 destinations in 28 countries, including 12 capital cities

iii 7 new scheduled routes 2006, 5 new routes announced for 2007

iv High proportion of business traffic on scheduled service network

v High proportion of international passengers

vi £15m capital investment in 2005, £20m in 2006

(6) Master Plan proposals

i. Expansion to 9m passengers per annum capacity

ii Extension to Terminal Building, aircraft parking apron and car parks

iii On-site airport hotel

iv New fire station, fuel storage depot and administration building

The Chairman suggested that there were five areas to be addressed by the Panel in the context of wider aspects of economic development and transport (as listed below) –

1. Surface areas, transport issues, parking

2. Bio-diversity, climate change, pollution

3. Employment, economic benefit

4. Terminal growth, parking growth, hotel

5. Government policy constraints

The Chairman suggested that the meeting focus on those sub headings in order to provide a structured debate and discussion. He suggested that this would provide a more useful outcome, rather than the Panel receive a succession of statements, and so avoid unnecessary repetition.

Some representatives/spokespersons protested at the Chairman’s organisation of the debate, and requested to be allowed to make their statements. The Chairman reiterated that they would have ample opportunity during the debate to make all their points and said that he would allow time at the end of the meeting for any issues not covered to be raised and debated.

Surface Access, Transport Issues, Parking

Councillor Faith Moulin advised that Yatton Parish Council had carried out a survey of its residents with the majority of respondents indicating that they did not want any further expansion of the airport. It was commented that a gridlock situation with regard to traffic already existed, and that any growth in the airport’s activities would increase the level of traffic of roads. It was pointed out that the road surfaces were in poor condition. It was further commented that local residents not BIA had to pay for the maintenance of the roads.

The representative of Winford Parish Council advocated the use of buses instead of cars and commented that the Government was willing to provide funding to local authorities for new bus routes.

Hilary Burn of the Parish Council’s Airport Association considered that the BIA could easily subsidise all bus travel to and from the airport.

Councillor Ed Bradley of Barrow Gurney Parish Council expressed concern that the expansion of the airport would significantly increase vehicle movements in the area. The existing situation was bad, and needed to be resolved prior to any consideration of further airport expansion.

Barrow Gurney Parish Council considered that the traffic assessment prepared by BIA’s consultants did not give a full picture and was misleading, neglecting the wider daily traffic issues. This often amounted to 12,000 vehicles per day. The linked traffic solutions may benefit through traffic, but not necessarily the communities. There was concern that whilst BIA had indicated support to overcome the traffic problems in Barrow Gurney, there was no clear financial commitment. A further concern was increasing traffic on the A38 and B3130, with the absence of a clear and acceptable solution.

The Panel was informed that Cleeve Parish Council were concerned by the extra volume of traffic generated by further airport expansion. It was pointed out that the A370 which ran through the village already carried out a substantial volume of traffic to and from the airport. Reference was made to the inconvenience, noise and pollution caused by traffic.

The A370 which ran through the village already had problems, and often became gridlocked when the M5 was closed.

Georgie Biggs, Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, was concerned that BIA was using the south side of the airport for car parking which was already located in the Green Belt, and that they were seeking additional parking provision. It was queried why BIA was not proposing the location of car parking on the north side of the airport.

Andrew Skipp and Alan Davies of BIA sought to respond to questions, queries and comments.

They did not consider that there were any flaws in the surface access strategy, and commented that the peak of vehicles using the airport was outside the peak commuting period.

With reference to the Bristol Airport Flyer bus service, Mr. Skipp considered that the provision of further bys stops in the Bristol City Centre would not be practical. Mr. Davies added that the September 2006 figures for the Flyer showed a 50 per cent increase in use from the previous year.

Mr. Skipp added that BIA had considered various options for car parking. He suggested that if the South Bristol Ring Road was implemented, the possibility of a park and ride site in South Bristol may be worth considering, but that was a long-term matter.

Mr. Skipp advised that BIA had stated publicly that it would contribute financially to traffic relief measures for Barrow Gurney but no finances could be earmarked in the absence of any specific scheme being put forward.

Biodiversity, Climate Change and Pollution Issues

Jeremy Birch, Friends of the Earth, highlighted a wide range of points including the growth in CO² emissions from the airport expansion, and that efforts to cut emissions would be cancelled out by the BIA growth. He added that carbon trading for the aviation industry was a long-way off, and that the Stern Report showed that action on climate change was imperative.

Justin Millward of the Woodland Trust referred to the danger to woodland habitats from an expansion of the airport. The threat was to trees and bats was particularly highlighted. He commented that local authorities had a responsibility to consider bio-diversity. He argued that the wider bio-diversity issue needed to be discussed before deciding on the Master Plan.

Andrew Skipp, BIA Managing Director, commented that the Environmental Impact Assessment gave no indication of any adverse impact on the ecology of the area.

Barrow Gurney Parish Council considered that the major and logical solution was to reduce the rate of expansion of the airport, and that further expansion should be opposed unless an environmentally acceptable, realistic and fully funded infrastructure was guaranteed and provided.

Cleeve Parish Council expressed their opposition to further expansion at BIA. Cleeve was underneath the flight path, some of it within the S7 decibel area. Residents already suffered considerable noise from aircraft taking off and landing and, at night, their sleep was disturbed. It was considered that it was imperative that the night quota of flights was not increased, and the number of flights restricted between 11.00 p.m. and 6.00 a.m., restricted to 9 – 11 movements.

Yatton Parish Council and Congresbury Parish Council also expressed opposition to the expansion of the airport. Reference was made to the issues of increased traffic causing further congestion, and noise from additional flights.

Employment/Economic Benefits

Mr. Skipp challenged comments that wage earners at the airport were low paid and said that the average wage was well within the mean for the area. He also disagreed with comments that the airport only took wealth out of the region, was noting that 34 per cent of passengers on the Madrid flights for example were inbound to Bristol and that business passengers made up a significant proportion of the overall total of airport users.

In response to a comment by the Friends of the Earth, the Chairman suggested it was not possible to insist local residents take their holidays in the area and if flights were stopped, tourists would find alternative and more damaging ways to reach their preferred destinations. He noted that leisure breaks had changed over the last 20 years and that many people favoured short holidays through the year rather than one long break and this favoured flying to travel destinations.

Terminal Growth, Parking Growth, Hotel

Mr. Skipp commented that the proposed car park expansion would be on land owned by the airport.

The need for a hotel at the airport was also questioned, noting the availability of bed spaces at Weston-super-Mare and elsewhere in the area.

Statements

The Chairman, having regard to the wish of Panel Members that it would be helpful to hear the statements of the spokespersons of groups/organisations/

Parish Councils, invited those spokespersons remaining in the meeting to give their statements.

The spokespersons commented having regard to the five areas identified by the Chairman.

Hilary Burn, Chair of the Parish Councils’ Airport Association commented as follows –

1. The Master Plan failed to address the following issues –

i. Noise, at day and night, from additional flights.

ii. Increase in road traffic which the infrastructure would be unable to cope with. In respect of this, it was doubted that the worst-case peak traffic had been addressed, taxi movement forecasts were under-estimated, and information and data on public transport was inconsistent.

iii. Loss of green fields to additional car parking.

iv. More light and air pollution.

v. Increase in CO² emissions from extra flights.

vi. Concern that the growth rate may be faster that BIA projections.

2. It was considered that the consultation process on the Master Plan was flawed. Reference was made to several matters including a lack of willingness to meet with groups and Parishes, poor attempts to engage local people in consultation, and a lack of information as to how results would be analysed and weighted.

3. It was commented that the South West Regional Development Agency was unconvinced by the proposed airport expansion, and that North Somerset Council was working out how to accommodate expansion rather than considering whether expansion was in the region’s best interests.

Georgie Bigg of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England expressed her opposition to the growth of the airport, and commented that North Somerset’s policies were in conflict with the airport expansion. The anticipated increase in traffic would damage the environment, and be detrimental to local transport policies.

Andrew Skipp, BIA Managing Director, in response to Councillor Cook, advised that aircraft using the airport did not have the means to jettison fuel (except in the direst emergency).

Councillor Yamanaka commented that it would be useful to have a survey of travellers’ potential holiday habits if they did not go abroad.

Councillor Clark considered that discussion of the BIA Master Plan was premature.

Councillor Jolley referred to residents’ concerns about aircraft continually taking off and landing. He queried whether BIA had the capacity to cope with 8 million additional passengers per year.

Alan Davies, the BIA Financial Director, advised that a reassessment based on a worst case scenario, suggested that BIA could cope with 9 million additional passengers per year.

Government Policy Constraints

The Chairman reminded the meeting that the BIA Master Plan resulted from the Government White Paper on the future of air transport, and that the White Paper favoured airport development

Jeremy Birch of Friends of the Earth commented that the White Paper had no statutory force.

Concluded: that this Panel having consulted with interested parties wishes the Planning and Regulatory Committee to take into consideration the Panel’s various concerns detailed below:

(a) the BIA’s surface access strategy and options

(b) that the principle of setting a specific target for access to Bristol International Airport by public transport be investigated;

(d) that any expansion of Bristol International Airport be delayed until an assessment of the following five areas raised by the Chairman has been carried out –

1. Surface areas, transport issues, parking

2. Bio-diversity, climate change, pollution

3. Employment, economic benefit

4. Terminal growth, parking growth, hotel

5. Government policy constraints

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Chairman

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