People ‘betrayed’ by airport ruling
A councillor has condoned breaking the law after the “morally indefensible” decision to allow Bristol Airport’s expansion.
Alastair Singleton, pictured, said people across the country had put their trust in the system and felt betrayed.
North Somerset Council rejected Bristol Airport’s bid to increase its annual capacity from
10 million to 12 million but earlier this month saw its decision overturned by the Planning Inspectorate.
Bath and North East Somerset Council explicitly opposed the expansion when it declared a climate emergency in 2019.
Councillor Singleton, who was a riot police commander in Hong Kong and served as a magistrate in Bath for 15 years, told the authority’s cabinet meeting on February 10: “Though I make no criticism of the Planning Inspectorate’s professionalism set within the legal context in which they must work, the decision they handed down was morally indefensible.
“What is equally indefensible is that the government has also failed to call in the decision for being a breach of national policy and of national significance.
“Thousands of our constituents in Bath and North East Somerset, as well as tens of thousands across the West of England and countless more up and down the country, feel profoundly let down, betrayed even, by this decision and many are increasingly angry.
“They were prepared to trust the system. They can see that the case against expansion is overwhelming, and they put their faith in the government and a Prime Minister who claims that climate change is a top priority and told COP 26 that we were at ‘one minute to midnight’ to protect them. They have been profoundly let down.” The planning inspectors recognised campaigners’ “major disappointment” at their decision but concluded that the “substantial” socioeconomic benefits of the airport’s expansion outweighed the harm it would cause.
They judged the issue of climate as “neutral in the planning balance”, finding that the aviation emissions are “not so significant that they would have a material impact on the government’s ability to meet its climate change target and budgets.
Saltford ward member Mr Singleton said the country has a long and proud history of civil disobedience and he admires those who take that path, adding: “When the system lets you down, when democratic process fails to deliver and threatens the wellbeing of your children and those who come after you, what resort do you have other than civil disobedience?
“No one seeks wantonly to break the law, but there are times when doing so is surely the moral thing to do, when failure to act is to be complicit in a greater moral dereliction.”
Mr Singleton told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he did not support violence, which he said is dangerous and not good for society. He has taken part in protests but has not been involved in tactics such as blocking roads.
“If the government isn’t going to protect the longer term interests of your children or grandchildren, you have to work out what you are prepared to do about it.”
He called on the cabinet to redouble its opposition to the expansion and urged it to work with Bristol Airport Action Network as it examines the options for appeal or judicial review.
“The cause, quite simply, could not be more important. Let’s show those who have been betrayed that principled, clear-sighted politicians, with the right values, wedded to integrity, will stand up for them, and that we will not rest until we prevail,” he said.