Another application from Bristol Airport

Bristol Airport has applied to the Department of Transport (DoT) to extend night flights, which are currently limited to summer, to all year round

Bristol airport have applied to the Department of Transport (DoT) to extend their night flights, which are currently limited to summer, to all year round; citing congestion and expansion of flight numbers. We have responded to the consultation issued by the DoT pointing out that the rejection of the Bristol Airport expansion plans by North Somerset Councillors on 10 February (and subsequently ratified on 18th March 2020) means that capacity will not currently exceed the maximum agreed (10 million passengers per annum (mppa) not 12 mppa as proposed in the expansion plans).

We believe that this renders the application invalid as it is based on a false assumption of increasing capacity beyond the growth allowed by planning policy in North Somerset. What is more, the key reason for refusing expansion at this time, was the declaration of North Somerset Council of a climate emergency, and the development of a Climate Strategy.

Expansion of the airport is incompatible with both the local climate strategy and the national UK agreement to bring carbon emissions to net zero by 2020. The UK aviation industry will need to play their part in meeting this agreement, and North Somerset Council, quite correctly, believed that airport expansion at this time was incompatible with both the national net zero commitment and their own local declaration and strategy on Climate Change.’

Click here to download our response (attached)