As an operator at Brissle Drizzle Int'l, a long time user of Filton for the weekend job and a resident of Somerset, BRS is a complete and utter anachronism in the world of major airport interconnectivity. Jasper Carrot used to joke that East Mids was an airport so rural it had a cattle grid at each end of the runway, I think that description better fits Bristol 20 years after it was probably observed!
The location and terrain make decent roads and rails almost impossible to engineer for a reasonable cost/benefit, let alone the concern of local (and frankly barking) citizens coming into play. As MV says, the link road will help but it has to be built first...
Filton was a blatant and outstanding candidate for an airport to serve Bristol and the surrounding area into the future and even after all the years it was formally ruled out, it breaks my heart when I fly over that strip of concrete, particularly when I'm busy preparing for (yet another) low viz approach to BRS.
Simply stated, I cannot believe how outrageously narrow-minded, improvident and egregiously stupid it was not to develop Filton in the 1990s.
