Airport Expansion Stopped! (at least for now...)

bristol | the environment | press release Thursday December 21, 2006 12:50 by Stop Bristol Airport Expansion

Airport expansion to be delayed

A motion recommending the delay of expansion at Bristol International Airport (BIA), which was passed by North Somerset Council yesterday evening has been strongly welcomed by the Stop Bristol Airport Expansion campaign group (SBAE).

The special meeting of the council's planning and economic development policy and scrutiny panel agreed to recommend that BIA's expansion should be delayed until an independent assessment of BIA's plans had been carried out. Five aspects of BIA's Master Plan were pinpointed for independent investigation:


1) Surface access (ie how people reach the airport), transport and parking issues

2) Environmental factors including, climate change, pollution and the effect of expansion on biodiversity

3) Employment and economic benefits

4) Phyiscal changes ie the airport's own building such as a new hotel etc

5) Government policy constraints

SBAE spokesman, Jeremy Birch said: "We are delighted with this recommendation. This is the first time the airport's expansion has been debated in public and we really welcomed the opportunity for the exchange of views that took place.

"We trust that the North Somerset councillors will honour this recommendation when the airport's plans go before the Council's crucial planning and regulatory committee on 18 January."