Planning and Regulatory Committee 10 February 2020 SECTION 1 – ITEM 4 Application 18/P/5118/OUT Target date: 10.04.2019 No: Applicant: Bristol Airport Limited Extended date: 17.02.2020 Parish Wrington Ward Councillor: Councillor Steve Hogg Ward: Wrington Proposal: Outline planning application, with some reserved matters included and others reserved for subsequent approval, for the development of Bristol Airport to enable a throughput of 12 million terminal passengers in any 12-month calendar period, comprising: • 2no. extensions to the terminal building and canopies over the forecourt of the main terminal entrance; • erection of new east walkway and pier with vertical circulation cores and pre-board zones; • 5m high acoustic timber fence; • Construction of a new service yard; • erection of a multi-storey car park north west of the terminal building with five levels providing approximately 2,150 spaces; • enhancement to the internal road system including gyratory road with internal surface car parking and layout changes; • enhancements to airside infrastructure including construction of new eastern taxiway link and taxiway widening (and fillets) to the southern edge of Taxiway ‘GOLF’; • the year-round use of the existing Silver Zone car park extension (known as ‘Cogloop Phase 1’) with associated permanent (fixed) lighting and CCTV; • extension to the Silver Zone car park to provide approximately 2,700 spaces (known as ‘Cogloop Phase 2’); • the provision of on-site renewable energy generation • improvements to the A38 and its junction with Downside Road; • operating within a rolling annual cap of 4,000 night-flights between the hours of 23:30 and 06:00 with no seasonal restrictions; • revision to the operation of Stands 38 and 39; • landscaping and associated works. Site address: Bristol Airport, North Side Road, Felton, Wrington, BS48 3DP 18/P/5118/OUT Page 1 of 235 Planning and Regulatory Committee 10 February 2020 Summary of recommendation It is recommended that subject to referral to the Secretary of State and the completion of a S106 legal agreement, this application be APPROVED subject to planning conditions. The full recommendation is set out at the end of this report. Appendices There are 4 appendices to this report. Appendix 1 - index of the abbreviations used in this report Appendix 2 - summary of all representations received. Appendix 3 - details of the proposed heads of terms for the S106 agreement. Appendix 4 - list of the current documents supporting the application. Committee site inspection A member site inspection was held on 14th June 2019. Background and key planning history Bristol Airport (BA) opened in 1957. Expansion in the 1960’s saw extensions to the runway and passenger terminal. The 1980’s brought a large growth in passenger numbers through the expansion of tour and charter markets. In the early 1990’s the projected passenger growth was forecast to exceed the capacity of the terminal and with no scope for further extensions, plans were prepared for a new passenger terminal. Planning permission (ref no. 1287/91) granted in 1995 included a replacement passenger terminal and re-routing part of the A38 next to the airport. Both elements opened in 2000. At that time BA handled 2.1 million passengers per annum (mppa). This increased to 3.9 mppa by 2003 and 6.3 mppa by 2008. In 2011, outline planning permission (ref no. 09/P/1020/OT2) was granted to increase the operational capacity of BA from 7.2 to 10 mppa. The included over 30 separate developments. The permission was subject to a Section 106 legal agreement. The main obligations in the S106 Agreement required BA to: fund new and more frequent pubic transport services to and from the airport; provide an environmental mitigation fund; develop a skills and employment plan; make financial contributions towards strategic infrastructure projects and undertake air quality monitoring. Bristol Airport Limited (BAL) has implemented most elements the 10 mppa permission, although some are still to be commenced or completed. An on-site hotel was built in 2015 under a separate planning permission (Ref No. 14/P/0314/F). In 1997 BAL served 1.6 million passengers. Since then annual passengers have increased in all but one year. In 2019 BAL handled 8.9 million passengers. They expect to reach their present permitted capacity of 10 million passengers per annum (mppa) in 2021. To ensure that they can continue to meet passenger demands into the future, BAL are preparing a new Airport Master Plan. This will set a long-term strategy for phased growth of the airport to meet a projected increase in passenger numbers, which could increase up to 20 mppa by the mid 2040’s. BAL’s initial development strategy was set out in a document called: ‘Your Airport, Your Views’, which was consulted on in 2018. The first phase of growth to achieve 12 mppa by the mid-2020s is the subject of this application. 18/P/5118/OUT Page 2 of 235 Planning and Regulatory Committee 10 February 2020 Bristol Airport (BA) BA is in the parish of Wrington, about 4km north-east from the centre of the village. It is 1.6km west of Felton and 3.2km west of Winford. Bristol city centre is about 11km north- east of the airport. The Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty begins 3km south of the airport. The airport’s main road access is from the A38. There are two roundabout entrances in to the airport from the A38: the northern access to the passenger terminal and adjoining car parks and a southern access, which serves the ‘Silver Zone’ car park and private aviation facilities. The airport is approximately 196 hectares in area, and it is on an elevated plateau between 165–192 metres above Ordnance Datum. Most of BA is in the Green Belt, save for 44 hectares at its north side. This area, known as the ‘Green Belt Inset’, includes the passenger terminal, air traffic control tower, hotel, multi-storey car park and surface car parks. The central part of the airport comprises the runway, aircraft taxiways and the aircraft-stands. There are 32 aircraft stands at present, but the 10 mppa consent allows 3 more to be added. The numbering sequence is not however successive (for example there are no stand numbers 17-20) such that stand numbers continue up to stand 39. The south side of the airport includes private aviation buildings, a helicopter unit, fire station, new admin offices for BAL staff and long-stay car parks (the ‘Silver Zone’). BA is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The Proposed Development The application seeks outline planning permission, with some details (‘reserved matters’) included to increase the operational capacity of Bristol Airport from its current cap of 10 mppa up to 12 mppa. It comprises the following elements: North Side of Airport • A four-storey extension to the west side of the passenger terminal providing approximately 11,000 square metres of additional floor space. • A two-storey extension to the south side of the passenger terminal providing approximately 3,600 square metres of additional floor space. • Canopies over the forecourt entrance of the passenger terminal. • A new passenger walkway approximately 275 metres long to the east side of the passenger terminal. This will have a floor area of approximately 3,000 square metres. • A new eastern pier for passenger access to the eastern stands. This will have a floorspace of approximately 3,815 square metres. • An additional multi-storey car park (MSCP3) to provide 2,150 spaces over 5 levels adjacent to the current MSCP. The MSCP will occupy a footprint of around 1.12 hectares. • A two-lane (one-way) gyratory road system approximately 700 metres long. • A new service yard to the west side of the passenger terminal and north of the western walkway. This will be used for the delivery of goods and as a waste management area. Its site area is approximately 0.4 hectare. 18/P/5118/OUT Page 3 of 235 Planning and Regulatory Committee 10 February 2020 Central Area • An aircraft taxiway link at the eastern end of the runway, approximately 170 metres long. • Widening the southern edge of the northern most taxiway (‘Taxiway GOLF’). This will have a site area of approximately 1.81 hectares. • Changes to the current restrictions on aircraft stands 38 and 39 to allow: - the use of mobile power generators; - installation and use of aircraft auxiliary power units; and - use of aircraft engines for taxiing (as opposed to towing). Southern Area • Change the seasonal use of the ‘Cogloop’ 3,650 space car-park, which is currently only allowed to be used between May to October each year, to all-year-round use, with permanent fixed lighting and CCTV. • An extension to the ‘Silver Zone’ car park comprising approximately 2,700 additional spaces for all-year-round use. This site will have a site area of approximately 5.1 hectares, and it is on agricultural land which adjoins current the operational boundary of the airport. Night Flights Condition 38 of 09/P/1020/OT2 (the 10 mppa permission) caps ‘night time’ flights (defined as 23:30-06:00 Hours) to 4000 per year, with a maximum of 3000 flights in the British Summer Time and 1000 movements in the British Winter Time. BAL propose to retain the annual cap of 4000 night-time flights at 12 mppa but remove the seasonal restrictions. Off-Site Works Alterations to the A38 highway at the Downside Road and West Lane junctions as well as carriageway improvements to a section of the existing A38. These are described in ‘Issue 10’ of this report. The table below provides a breakdown of the proposed development and it identifies those ‘reserved matters’ included in this application.