Originally Posted by
Blackfriar
North Somerset has declared a “climate emergency” so I doubt they will allow any expansion.
Originally Posted by
Asturias56
Councils can drag out planning for years - one of the UK Onshore oi companies has had their application for a well site S of London deferred for the 5th consecutive planning meeting recently that's 10 months.
And a Planning Enquiry takes the best part of a year to set up and then a year to report.
I will be surprised if the North Somerset unitary authority approves BRS’s applications to have its 10 mppa planning limit raised to 12 mppa together with infrastructure expansion to handle that number. The political complexion of the elected members has changed significantly since last May's elections. That could lead the airport to a Planning Inspectorate appeal which, as has been said, might take a long time to arrive at a final resolution; possibly later in 2021 is the earliest a final decision might be made.
The airport is edging ever closer to its 10 mppa cap with the current annual throughput just below 9 mppa. The demise of Thomas Cook and flybmi has slowed the expected growth this year but TUI’s and easyJet’s expansion next summer (anticipated in the case of easyJet but not confirmed), plus the return of Brussels Airlines and Lufthansa, ought to see 9 million passed next year.
Two years ago this month the airport announced a public consultation into its proposed new master plan. The original timeline saw a draft master plan published later in 2018 for further public consultation. 2020 will be with us soon but still no draft master plan in the public domain for consultation.
The current planning applications awaiting a determination by the local authority actually embrace some things that might have been expected by some to have formed part of the new master plan. I suppose time was of the essence, as is now shown by the local authority delay in making a decision. It might be that the airport is now awaiting a final decision on its annual passenger cap before resuming the draft master plan process. The uncertainty of the final outcome and the likely time it will take could well be putting of an airline or airlines that might have shown a serious interest in operating out of BRS.
On another topic, TUI announced today that they will operate to Sharm el Sheikh twice weekly next winter, an increase on next summer’s weekly flight.