For and against airport expansion

Virtual fly-past of the proposed airport scheme

Officials at Bristol International Airport have been discussing their controversial expansion plans with local decision makers.

They invited the local parish councillors to a meeting on Wednesday to see details of the planning application and the changes that have been made after a recent consultation.

The expansion scheme includes extending the terminal building and providing extra car parking and new aircraft stands.

The airport says the scheme would inject more than £340m into the local economy but opponents said the economic arguments were "extremely weak".

We speak to people who are for and against the expansion of the airport.

Against expansion

Hilary Burn, spokesperson for the Stop Bristol Expansion Campaign

The planning meeting showed how mammoth this project is going to be, the development is absolutely mammoth. It's going to take passenger numbers way beyond 10m-per-annum.

What people have to understand [is] the size of this project means that the impact on residents and the environment are absolutely immense.

And we have to have certainty that things like the bus rapid transit link to the airport will come forward - last night the airport couldn't give us that.

They can't give us a certainty that they are going to have new fuel efficient and quieter planes.

They say we are going to meet our climate change targets because they are going into the emissions trading scheme but we can't be certain this is going to work in reducing climate change.

For expansion

Alan Davies, planning and environment director for Bristol International Airport

The airport needs to expand for a number of reasons - our facilities are overstretched at the moment. We want to provide the airport that Bristol and the south west can be proud of and serve the region properly.

At the moment we're not doing that. We've got a congested terminal and we need to improve our facilities and we need to accommodate the growth in the demand for travel forecast over the next 10 to 20 years.

The alternative is that either people will suffer with congestion in our terminal or be forced to make long journeys to other airports so it's all part of a plan to reduce emissions, really, compared with using other airports.

Our planning application has been submitted and we've been talking to the local community and listening for a long time.

We've made a number of changes - we've altered the design of the car parks, we've put in acoustic fences around the development, and we've offered a series of planning conditions and obligations and contributions to transport schemes as part of our proposals.