Bristol Airport looks to acquire land for expansion

Bristol Airport has applied for Compulsory Purchase Orders covering 22 pieces of land, to improve road access as part of its expansion plans.

The airport hopes to turn the A38 into a dual carriageway as it looks to increase capacity from 10 million to 12 million passengers per year.

However, it currently does not have permission to expand after North Somerset Council rejected its plans.

The airport lodged an appeal against the decision earlier in September.

The CPOs relate to parcels of land along the A38 which the airport wants to widen in order to be able to cope with its planned increase in passenger numbers.

Many of the pieces of land are currently occupied by hedgerows, grass verges, fields and woodland.

However, Boris Johnson told the UN earlier the government would increase the amount of protected land in the UK to 30% by 2030.

To that end he pledged an extra 400,000 hectares of English countryside would be protected to support the recovery of nature.

The airport also says its expansion will contribute to the South West's economic recovery and create jobs in the region, helping to replace those lost during the pandemic.

It said the expansion would stop millions of people from the region driving to London airports.

But environmental protestors against the plans say it will be harmful to the environment and councillors voted 18-7, with one abstention, to reject it.

The airport said global passenger forecasts from the International Air Transport Association showed traffic would return to pre-pandemic levels by 2024, with recovery in the short-haul market likely to be faster.

It added it was therefore confident of reaching 12 million a year "albeit over a longer time period than previously projected".

The temporary suppression of growth would provide the airport with the chance to put the infrastructure in place to cope with the increased passenger numbers, it added.

In February, the application had about 8,800 objections from the public and 2,400 messages of support.

The decision will now move to a national level and will be made by an independent planning inspector, or, if the appeal is recovered, by the Government.

A decision on the CPOs will be made by the Secretary of State for Transport.

The Airport opened at Lulsgate Bottom in May 1957 on the site of a former WW2 experimental fighter station called RAF Lulsgate Bottom.