ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners are opposing Bristol Airport expansion plans to accommodate 15 million passengers per year which it describes as “the height of stupidity”

The move comes only two years after the airport was expanded in order to allow for 12 million passengers per year, following on from a four year legal battle with local residents and environmental campaigners.

Bristol Airport Action Network (BAAN) members say the proposals are premature due to the short time since the previous expansion, claiming that nobody has been able to measure the impact of the airport’s current capacity.

The new planning application is expected to be submitted in 2025 and could possibly include a longer runway to cater to larger planes flying in from further distances.

BAAN member Stephen Clarke said: “Local residents are already anticipating further disruption to their lives with the extra noise, more night flights, increased traffic congestion on the surrounding roads and the impact on the climate from CO2 emissions. They don’t yet know the full impact on their lives with a growing airport that caters for 12 million passengers and yet they will soon be asked to accept plans for 15 million.

“All of these techno solutions can never compensate for the huge increases in passenger numbers that the industry has planned. The only solution is demand-management; starting with a halt to airport expansions.”

Richard Baxter, another member of BAAN, said: “We have all been horrified by scenes of flooding near Valencia killing more than 220 people and devastating whole communities. Since then more floods have occurred in the regions of Girona and Malaga as well as in Portugal’s Algarve.

“Holiday resorts in Greece, Italy, and Croatia also battled with wildfires over the Summer. It is totally irresponsible for Bristol Airport to be planning further growth that will adversely affect our climate through the extra greenhouse gases that will be emitted from the extra flights. It’s just the height of stupidity that’s being forced on us”.

In response, a Bristol Airport spokesperson said: “We are working on an airport masterplan to 2040 setting out future infrastructure development to meet the strong and growing demand of people in our region using Bristol Airport. As part of the masterplan process, we will launch a public consultation soon so people can help shape our plans.    

“There are now more than 10 million passengers a year choosing to use Bristol Airport, providing over 5,000 local jobs and contributing £2billion to the regional economy every year. Our masterplan to 2040 will look at expected passenger growth beyond the current allowance of 12 million passengers per annum.   

“We’re continuously investing in improvements to meet current demand, with our new multimillion pound public transport interchange currently under construction. We are also working towards our net zero operations 2030 target and are committed to working with partners on aviation decarbonisation. 

 “The masterplan will look at what further development might be required to meet the growing demand for air travel and we’d welcome input from people when public consultation gets under way.”