I'm glad for the sake of the poor old North Somerset Council tax payer (although I don't live in that unitary authority's area) that their South Area Planning Committee has belatedly recognised that the council’s earlier decision to reject the airport’s application to build the walkway as General Permitted Development was seriously flawed.
Even the council’s own professional advisers had told it that the walkway would be GPD. In now granting the Certificate of Lawfulness for the structure North Somerset councillors have taken on board that the airport would almost certainly have mounted a legal challenge to a refusal that, in the view of many experts, would have succeeded, at no little expense to council tax payers.
It's also very pleasing that the anti-expansionists no longer have the game all to themselves. North Somerset Council received dozens of expressions of support for the proposal, due in no small part to BISON (Bristol International Supporters Online), an organisation that is growing almost daily in numbers and becoming a local voice to combat the myths put about by SBAE and its fellow travellers.
The expansion planning applications, when submitted, will of course generate a massive amount of heat and misinformation on the part of opponents, and the airport will need to show support outnumbers opposition. The work of a group like BISON will be vital.
I commend and thank Daniel (an occasional poster to PPRuNe) and Simon for their untiring work in organising a much needed focus group to counter the 'antis'.
mikelima1948, you must be delighted. Congratulations to the airport and thank goodness that common sense prevailed.