Please make sure you fill in the ‘feedback form’ at the bottom of the Airport’s consultation before 19th December and let them know that you oppose their plans and encourage everyone else you know to also fill out the feedback. The number of responses really matters.
https://www.bristolairport.co.uk/lighting-consultation
Here are some important points to make:
- You would lose the public right to roam and lose recreational use of the land, a right which has belonged to local people for centuries.
- Explain how you use the common at the moment.
- Explain why losing access to part of the common would affect your use.
- Explain why gaining access to nearby replacement land (likely part of the current field owned by the airport abutting Felton Common & currently housing landing lights) wouldn’t be of equal value or use and isn’t adequate to offset the loss. This ‘replacement’ land is too close to the Airport and the A38 meaning more noise and more air pollution, making it unsuitable for children, walking dogs and horse riders.
- Add that there would be a loss of grazing rights which have been in place for centuries (and are currently being used).
- Mention that the current amazing views would be interrupted by 9m tall lights and 3m fencing.
- Light pollution would be intense for local people, as would the increased noise from planes flying lower overhead.
- Please copy & paste (or screen grab) your response & email to Annemieke.Waite@n-somerset.gov.uk (Winford NSC councillor) & winfordpc@gmail.com otherwise we can’t hold the airport to account over consultation responses.
And some further optional points:
Bristol Airport flew non-stop transatlantic flights to Newark (New York) between 2005-2010 using the existing runway. However, weight restrictions due to the shorter runway meant that planes couldn’t operate with a ‘full payload’. Bristol Airport just wants to extend the runway so they can fit more passengers & cargo on each plane and make bigger profits.
More recently, long haul flights to Cancun (Mexico), Florida, the Dominican Republic and various Caribbean destinations have flown direct from Bristol using the existing runway. These flights no longer happen, but they are possible with the existing runway.
An extended runway would mean that the NSC public safety zones on the top of Felton Common would change from 1in 100,000 risk to 1 in 10,000 risk. Given there may be up to 100,00 flights per year this is an unacceptable level of risk for people who live around Felton Common and those who use the Common.