Bristol Airport and North Somerset Council clash as 36-day inquiry ends

Bristol Airport said the expansion would bring economic benefits such as money and jobs to the region

Bristol Airport has called North Somerset Council "hostile" and denied "unfair" claims that it put profit before residents' wellbeing. 

Michael Humphries, representing the airport in a 36-day public inquiry into its expansion plans, said the move would bring jobs and money to the area.

In closing submissions, the council's barrister Reuben Taylor called the plans unacceptable and unlawful.

"This is the wrong development proposed in the wrong location," he said.

The airport is seeking to expand its capacity from 10 million to 12 million passengers a year, but North Somerset Council rejected the plans last year and has been defending its decision at a public inquiry which came to an end on Friday.

North Somerset councillors refused planning permission for the expansion by 18 votes to seven last year

"For all the warm words it puts into print, this inquiry has revealed that BAL (Bristol Airport) is a company that puts the pursuit of profit before the wellbeing of the people its operations affect," said Mr Taylor

"We are in a new world now, a world where a 1990s type approach to airport expansion no longer has weight. A world where responsible growth is required by government as a condition of expansion," he added.

He told the inquiry that the economic benefit "would not justify the sleepless nights" for people living nearby, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The airport has insisted there remains an "acute need" to provide additional capacity

Mr Humphries said the expansion was driven by demand from millions of people who want to fly and "nothing could be further from the truth" than the council's claim that it put profits before people's wellbeing. 

"Bristol Airport is a regional airport that is grounded in its local and wider communities. It's absolutely focused on sharing the benefits of growth and appropriately mitigating its effects. These unfair allegations are firmly rejected," he said.

"The allegations reveal that members are not only hostile to the application, but hostile to the applicant itself," he added.