AIRPORT’S LAND GRAB BID TO BUILD ROADS
COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDERS APPLIED FOR TO CREATE STRETCH OF DUAL CARRIAGEWAY AS AIRPORT APPEALS AGAINST DECISION TO REFUSE EXPANSION PLANS
BRISTOL Airport has applied for a compulsory purchase order on 22 pieces of land so it can turn the A38 into a dual carriageway on the approach to the airport.
Airport authorities have applied for permission to buy the pieces of land, without the owners’ consent, as part of highway improvements to the junction around the Airport Tavern pub and hotel and in front of Felton Village Hall.
The airport has issued the compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) as part of its bid to expand the airport - even though council planners refused permission for that expansion earlier this year.
The airport is appealing that decision, and will go before a Government planning inspector and a major public inquiry, probably in 2021, to decide whether it should be allowed to expand from having a maximum of ten million passengers a year to 12 million.
With the coronavirus pandemic continuing to hit the numbers of people travelling abroad, passenger numbers are currently a quarter what they would be expected for this time in September.
The CPOs are for 22 individual parcels of land - some of just a few square feet - on either side of the A38 at its junction with Downside Road, on the corner where the Airport Tavern is, and going up to Felton Village Hall and the junction with West Lane.
The areas of land being bought are largely strips of land that form the hedges and verges either side of the road, to enable the road to be widened.
The larger parcels of land include the main car park for the Airport Tavern that is on the Downside Road side, and an area of woodland on the southern corner of the A38, across Downside Road from the pub.
Papers submitted by Bristol Airport to explain its plans reveal the airport has already bought the only two houses that lie between the airport’s boundary and Downside Road.
The airport said the CPOs were only for areas of land for which it had been unable to reach agreement with the owners to sell to them, indicating that they had agreements in place for other parts.
The airport’s plans are to turn the A38 into a two-lane road both ways from the north of Felton Village Hall, right through both junctions and on to the airport roundabout itself.
There will be significant junction improvements at the turnings left and right on the approach to the airport, and the Airport Tavern itself will have a new entrance off Downside Road, rather than the main road itself.
The airport said the widening of the A38 at this point was desperately needed anyway - the junction with Downside Road was already over-capacity - and were part of the planning application to North Somerset Council earlier this year.
That council turned down the plans, sending the airport to the Government planning inspectors to appeal.
In a ‘statement of reasons’, the airport said it was still continuing to negotiate with the owners of the individual plots of land, but had to submit CPOs on them to make sure it could undertake the road-widening scheme straight away, if it wins the appeal.
“In order to ensure that the Highway Works can take place in a timely manner to allow delivery of the scheme, it will be necessary for Bristol Airport Limited (BAL) to compulsorily acquire the Order Land albeit with a continued commitment to seek to acquire the interests by agreement,” the statement said.
Last week, the boss of Bristol Airport added his signature to a letter from all of Britain’s regional airports calling for the Government to help the airport industry get through the coronavirus pandemic, and to introduce mandatory testing of passengers arriving back in Britain, rather than a blanket quarantine system.
Opponents of the expansion of Bristol Airport have criticised the airport’s decision to appeal against the refusal of planning permission back in February, and last week North Somerset council, which turned down the plans, were furious the airport was appealing.
Councillor Sarah Warren, joint cabinet member for Climate Emergency, said: “We are extremely disappointed that Bristol International Airport is appealing against planning refusal.
“At a time when we are facing a climate emergency, we are resolute that the economic benefits of an increase in passenger numbers are clearly outweighed by the detrimental impact on the environment.”
To ensure the Highway Works can take place in a timely manner to allow delivery of the scheme, it will be necessary ... to compulsorily acquire the Order Land albeit with a continued commitment to seek to acquire the interests by agreement Airport statement