In its latest consultation on the future of the airport, Bristol Airport has outlined plans to increase capacity to accommodate 12 million passengers a year.
The consultation, which started on Monday 14 May and will run until Friday 6 July 2018, includes detailed plans for continued growth at the airport over the next decade. It covers five key areas: aviation, economic impact, Green Belt, sustainable growth and surface access.
Planning permission is already in place at the UK’s southern gateway for facilities to hold up to 10 million passengers, with £160 million invested in infrastructure improvements since 2010.
It is anticipated that the most recent proposals for improvement at the airport can largely be delivered within the land owned by Bristol Airport, and will include surface level car parking facilities, as well as an additional multi-storey car park and a new canopy at the front of the building.
The proposal will also include suggestions for an enhanced on-site road layout, which will be complemented by improvements to the local highway.
“It was clear from the initial consultation on preparing a long-term Master Plan that local communities wanted clarity on our development plans and solutions to some of the issues they face living close to a busy international airport,” said Janis Kong, chairman of Bristol Airport.
She went on to explain that by bringing forward this planning application to coincide with the emerging thinking on the airport’s Master Plan, “we will set out how phased growth can be achieved through the 2020s as part of an exciting longer-term vision.”
Discussing how the proposals will be developed to address impacts on the local community and environment, including in key areas such as aircraft noise, where no increase in annual night flights will be sought, Simon Earles, planning and sustainability director at Bristol Airport added: “These proposals will ensure Bristol Airport continues to provide the connectivity our region needs to be successful while offering local residents and stakeholders greater clarity about the phasing of future development.”
