Bristol Airport Expansion Plan Could Be Approved Today

Wednesday, March 3rd 2010 07:00

Plans to expand Bristol International Airport so it handles 10 million passengers a year could be approved later.

The proposals involve the expansion of the terminal building and could mean there are an extra five or six flights an hour from Lulsgate in future.

Bosses want to double the size of the terminal, increase car parking spaces by a third with new multi-storey car-park, and also create a new public transport interchange.

The planned expansion was due to happen at around 2016 but that has now been pushed back to 2019, when airport bosses think they will reach 10 million passengers per year.

Environmental groups say the development of the airport will lead to a massive rise in carbon emissions.

Stop Bristol Airport Expansion Group says they've been 6 thousand objections over the expansion. Hilary Burn says the reasons for opposition vary: "There's going to be loss of greenbelt to a giant car park, there's going to be an increase of carbon emmissions which is just awful because of climate change. There's going to be more traffic on all our local roads, the surface access can't cope at the moment and it's going to get far worse and of course there's going to be more noise."

However, when they launched the plans last June, Chief Executive Robert Sinclair said the expansion would be great for the economy, creating lots of new jobs for the local area:

"A successful airport is critical to the future prospects of the South West, providing employment, economic benefits, connections for business and a gateway for inbound tourists visiting the region. We are a vital component of the region's transport infrastructure. Delaying or doing nothing risks putting the region to the back of the queue for inward investment and providing a poor service to passengers flying out of the airport and visitors arriving in the region.

"By improving facilities here in the South West we can offer a real alternative to the five million passengers from this region currently making time-consuming and expensive journeys by road or rail to fly from Heathrow and other airports in the South East. There is also an opportunity to increase the number of overseas visitors flying into Bristol International, increasing money spent at local hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions."

On that point Ms Burns from STAG said: "The job situation is that they say they're going to bring 3 thousand in, only 800 to 900 are going to be at the airport. The rest are indirect jobs and could be anywhere in the South West. There's no guarantee the rest of those jobs will come. We have to ask ourselves do we want green jobs?. the airport jobs are not green. They are definitely unsustainable."

Officers at North Somerset Council have recommended the expansion be approved.