It’s been reported this week that the Planning Inspectorate will begin work next month on Bristol Airport’s appeal against the rejection of the airport’s planning application by its local authority, North Somerset unitary authority (NSC).
The planning application sought permission for new infrastructure to allow the airport to handle 12 mppa together with associated requests to raise the current 10 mppa passenger cap to that level and to rationalise but not increase overall its night movement noise restrictions. The main feature of the process will be a four-week public enquiry reportedly to be held in July next year.
BRS originally projected that it would reach 12 mppa by 2026 but now believes that the virus effects have probably delayed that until 2030. The airport was allowed by the Planning Inspectorate to enter further submissions based on the new scenario which the Planning Inspectorate judged to be ‘exceptional’. NSC has opened a public consultation based on the airport’s new submissions.
The airport submitted its original planning application to NSC in December 2018 but it was not until February 2020 that the authority’s planning committee met to determine the application which was rejected. Because the rejection was contrary to the recommendations of its own planning officers who recommended approval the authority’s standing orders dictate that the decision had to be ratified at a later planning committee meeting which was done in March 2020.
The airport launched its appeal in summer 2020.
The appointed planning inspector could decide the outcome of the appeal him or herself but because of the nature of the application it’s likely that following the inspector’s enquiry the matter will be ‘recovered‘ by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (currently the Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP) in order to make the final decision himself. He would take account of the planning inspector’s recommendations but is not bound by them.
Therefore it’s likely that no decision will be made until at least the latter part of next year and, if it goes in favour of the airport, subsequent legal action by opponents might well delay matters further.