Your say / Bristol airport
‘Felton Common needs saving from yet another Bristol Airport land-grab’
I know it’s hard to believe, but Bristol Airport are land-grabbing again.
First they built car parks on over a hundred acres of precious green belt land. Now they want to destroy one of our regions’ medieval commons. They must be stopped.
As many of you will know, Bristol Airport has a voracious appetite for expansion. Their current limit of 12 million passengers per annum (mppa) was approved despite almost universal opposition from local residents and elected politicians a few years ago.
Despite this, they are now planning to apply again for a further three million passengers a year (plus an extra thousand night flights).
However, they have hit a major snag: in order to expand further they need more landing lights.
In a show of complete disdain for local residents they are now proposing to erect these landing lights (and all the associated wires and fences) on a nearby piece of land.
The problem is that this just happens to be Felton Common, which is registered common land.
This is so preposterous that it is hard to know where to start. The area has been common land since medieval times and probably back beyond the Magna Carta.
Despite this, the airport want to erect a huge array of landing lights and associated structures over a 400 metre stretch of this protected space.
The structures for the lights are up to 28 feet tall and the overall effect would be to split the common in two and light it up like a football stadium.
Not only is the land a registered common, and therefore protected under the Commons Act, but it is also a site of nature conservation and a local nature reserve.
These protections are vital to conserve the wildlife, the plants, the birds and the entire natural ecosystem that has existed undisturbed there for hundreds of years.
According to a local book, the Common has 267 plant species and a wide range of flora and fauna including moths, bats, badgers and barn owls, all of which would have to be disturbed to meet Bristol Airport’s new operational demands.
There are also the numerous strollers, dog walkers and other human users of this important piece of land which has been put into community care for generations.
Bristol Airport are holding a consultation but from the angry response of residents and campaigners so far we think it pretty obvious what the results will be.
How could Bristol Airport possibly think this would be acceptable to local people?
The common itself is owned by Winford Parish Council, and they have made clear their opposition to the plans.
Local MPs and councillors must stand with their constituents against this outrageous land-grab. Bristol Airport is big enough as it is already.
It is very clear that if the airport is allowed to deregister this land as commons and use it for their infrastructure, it will never be owned by the people again.
This is a once-and-for-all decision which cannot be revisited later.
Bristol Airport Action Network are organising a meeting at Felton Village Hall on December 2 at 6.30pm and invite all Bristol and North Somerset residents and elected representatives to come and learn more about the airport’s plans, to give your opinions and decide on an action plan.
Please also complete the consultation and write to your local councillor and MP expressing your outrage at these proposals. Have a look at the website www.eyesonbristolairport.org for more background info.
We simply cannot allow corporate interests to steamroller the rights of residents in this way.
If we do not make a stand to protect our rights for peace and enjoyment on the Commons, owned by us all since medieval times, when will we fight back? Enough is enough!
Stephen Clarke is joint coordinator of Bristol Airport Action Network (BAAN), a coalition of campaigning groups in Bristol and the South West that has been challenging the expansion of Bristol Airport for over six years.
Main image: A visualisation of the proposed structure on Felton Common, including people in image for scale, produced by BAAN
Read next:
Our newsletters emailed directly to you
