A lot has happened since Bristol Airport’s surprise announcement on November the 3rd that they wished to relocate the runway threshold to accommodate larger aircraft to serve long-haul destinations as part of their plans to eventually reach 15 million passengers a year. This will involve erecting 21runway approach lights on a minimum of 8 columns in 8 rows 30 M apart intruding 240M into the common. Columns would range in height from 1.25M closest to the A38 increasing to 8.5M furthest from the A38 due to the downward slope of the common at this point. Each column will be protected by a 3M high fence with the total fenced area measuring a minimum of 927 M2 with vehicle access required for occasional maintenance and safety checks. Moving the threshold towards Winford also means aircraft landing from this direction would be 12.5 M lower in the sky than they are at the moment.
This was a part of the “Runway Approach Lighting Consultation” letter and document that was sent to nearby residents and those with grazing rights. Together with an on-line version which gave 6 weeks until December 19th to respond. BA also ran a drop in event at Felton Village Hall on November the 20th from 3-8 PM which was very well attended with entrance having to be periodically restricted in the afternoon as there were too many people in the hall.
BAAN (Bristol Airport Action Network) held a meeting at Felton Village Hall on the evening of 2nd December to encourage opposition to the proposal and get as many as possible to reply to the consultation. The hall was packed with over 120 attending, and 18 people put their names forward to establish a group to protect the common which has become SFC.
Winford Parish Council published their official opposition to the proposals on their website on December the 16th.
I attended the Airport Consultative Committee meeting at the airport on Jan 15th as I had submitted written questions and asked to attend. Under questioning from myself Andrew Goodchild, BA Head of Planning and Growth admitted there were some flaws in the consultation, and they had underestimated the demand for the drop in event. Under later questioning from one of the Parish Councillors, he admitted BA had received 640 responses which were almost universally negative and they had underestimated the strength of local opposition. We are unlikely to learn more about the responses as this was a private BA consultation.
Since then, SFC has had 3 meetings chosen a committee and now has a constitution, e-mail address and Facebook page and is planning a wide range of opposition.
If you wish to become involved or receive information from SFC, please contact us at savefeltoncommon@gmail.com.
Simon Martin on behalf of SFC