Bristol Airport’s expansion plans have been allowed on appeal in a decision branded “devastating” by opponents.
The airport, however, said it was "excellent news" for the region's economy.
The expansion allows the airport to increase its current capacity from 10 million to 12 million passengers a year, while adding thousands more parking spaces. It is yet to hit the current cap and before the pandemic fewer than nine million passengers used the airport.
Dave Lees, the airport's chief executive, welcomed the decision by the Planning Inspectorate.
He said: "The decision is excellent news for our region’s economy, allowing us to create thousands of new jobs in the years ahead and provide more choice for our customers, supporting inbound tourism, and reducing the millions of road journeys made to London airports each year.
"We will now push ahead with our multi-million-pound plans for net zero operations by 2030 and look forward to working with stakeholders and the community to deliver sustainable growth.”
North Somerset Council leader Don Davies expressed his “extreme disappointment” and said the decision after a 36-day inquiry “flies in the face of local democracy”.
He said the authority gave sound grounds for refusing permission in February 2020 and it is seeing if there are any grounds for challenging the Planning Inspectorate ruling.
Reacting to the news following an adjournment in the council’s executive meeting, Councillor Davies said: “The refusal was based on firm planning grounds and the belief the detrimental effect of the expansion of the airport on this area and the wider impact on the impacts on the environment outweighed the narrower benefits of airport expansion, which sit almost entirely in the commercial interests of the owners, a foreign pension fund.”
The airport is owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
Councillor Davies said the council had mounted a "robust defence" of the council’s position and it was “extremely disappointing” the inspectors had overturned its decision.
The expansion was also opposed by Bristol City Council, Bath and North East Somerset Council, and the West of England Combined Authority.
“This simply flies in the face of local democracy and disregards the views of the local communities who fought equally hard to resist the expansion,” he said.
“It completely undermines our vision for a green North Somerset, our determination to tackle the climate emergency and the target we’ve set for the area to be carbon neutral by 2030.
“We face a climate emergency and to countenance yet more leisure flights that predominate from this airport is completely unacceptable from one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
“The airport’s important role in the region’s economy would have continued without expanding beyond its currently 10 million passengers a year limit."
Meanwhile, the CBI, one of the UK's biggest business organisations, welcomed the news. Last year, the membership body, said it supported Bristol Airport's decision to expand.
Ben Rhodes, CBI South West Director, said: “Bristol Airport’s expanded capacity will create opportunities for the South West’s world-class businesses, with the potential for new routes giving our region more direct connections and opening up new markets.
“We hope to see Bristol Airport generating thousands of new jobs in the coming years, helping to level-up the South West and drive forward our region’s economic recovery.”
However, the region's metro mayor, Dan Norris, said the "controversial decision" would be overturned by a future government.
The metro mayor blamed "out-of-date government policy" for the Bristol expansion decision, and said there needed to be an “urgent national conversation” about airports.
He said: “I am dismayed but not at all surprised by this decision. The government is in chaos on UK airport expansion as on pretty much everything else.
“The government’s lack of green policy on UK airport expansion has resulted in inspectors ignoring the voices of local people, and the resolution of the West of England Combined Authority which I lead."
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