Bristol Airport expansion

Statement from CPRE Avon and Bristol on the approval of plans to expand Bristol Airport

CPRE Avon and Bristol deplores the decision of Planning Inspectors to allow the expansion of Bristol Airport.

The decision tramples on local democracy. North Somerset Council refused this application as it didn’t fit with their Climate Strategy. Other local authorities, as well as North Somerset, directly affected by the proposals, also objected because of the widespread adverse environmental impacts. Residents across the whole of the West of England will have their quality of life materially and noticeably diminished.

The decision makes a mockery of the UK’s COP 26 commitments and sets an appalling precedent for other airport expansion plans. It clearly demonstrates how far planning law and guidance is lagging behind the imperatives of tackling climate change and achieving ‘net zero’. The airport’s owners and operators should be deeply ashamed and must not be let off the hook, neither in the practical terms of meeting every single ‘mitigation’ measure in full nor in terms of ongoing moral and ethical opprobrium.

An expanded Bristol Airport will be a disaster for local and national Climate Commitments, as well as tranquillity, air pollution, and congestion on local roads. Our report commissioned from the New Economics Foundation shows that suggested local economic benefits of expansion have been overestimated.