Last week two announcements brought into sharp focus the way that the planning process works in different parts of the country. At Coventry the local council turned down a proposal for a new terminal at an airport that has been around for 60 years. The proposed terminal is in an industrial estate which features a dual carriageway leading on to a major roundabout, itself feeding three fine dual carriageways. It seems that the airport might impose an extra 40 cars per hour into the roundabout at peak times, but the council planning committee, in its haste, would not wait for more statistics to become available. It now seems likely that two separate enquiries will develop, one for the short term existing temporary building and another for a proper two million passenger terminal. Two enquiries, two sets of costs. The same lawyers probably involved (and charging) twice. And certainly using up the time of both civil service and airport management teams twice again. In the meantime half a million people will have voted with their feet on the successful re-introduction of scheduled services at the airport.
Would the council have rejected the scheme had it been for the construction of a different type of commercial building project, one that might have employed say 500 people? Hardly likely. And they have cars too. How do you differentiate with cars for workers and cars for holidaymakers?
Now consider Bristol Airport, once suggested by a wag as being built by the Royal Air Force in order to test pilots for foggy landings. Fortunately those days are long gone and it now has the latest in approach aids and airport lighting. What Bristol does possess is possibly the worst and most dangerous approach roads of any major airport in the country. The A38 is an undulating, tortuous single carriageway, a track that winds its narrow way from Bristol to a new roundabout just outside the airport, and then continues in a similar vein southwards towards Weston Super Mare and the M5. The late Les Wilson, credited with the imagination to turn the old Lulsgate into a fine modern terminal, campaigned vigorously for dual carriageways to connect the airport with both the M5 and Bristol itself, with no success. The current management has far less profile. Underway is the Greater Bristol Strategic Study following from the earlier South West Area Multi-Modal Study, which decided that Bristol was too complex to understand. So now we have yet another paper exercise which has a long way to go before it even reaches the planning stage!
Last week award winning Continental Airlines announced that Bristol would be the latest in its series of UK regional destinations. Can you imagine an American arriving after a night in the air and used to driving on the other side gaining access to the A38. A recipe for disaster.
So there you have it. Two different planning committees with two opposite views. Coventry harassed by a volatile minority determined to stop expansion at any cost, and Bristol allowed to go ahead for expansion, some would say regardless of the consequences. Bristol has grown from one million passengers in the early nineties to 4m this year with hardly any improvements to the access road infrastructure. And maybe 6m people using the airport in four years” time, every one of them reliant on whatever means they can make it on the surface.
Some would argue that the Bristol passenger numbers should be capped until the access problem is sorted out. That would certainly focus attention on a serious problem that needs to be dealt with now and not (possibly) at some future date.
Soccer fans may notice a similar situation. The fine 25,000-seat Madejski stadium was allowed to be developed by the M4 at Reading, whilst the 15,000 Luton Town project in virtually the same position by the M1 (with similar traffic volume) was turned down by Mr Prescott. No clear planning logic. One can only assume that Madejski had better friends in high places than the current League One leaders. Likewise Bristol airport is the high profile gateway to the southwest whilst Coventry is a battlefield between the City Council, who support the project, and Warwickshire County Council, the planning authority, who clearly do not. Once again it is the airlines who suffer.
http://www.coventryairport.co.uk
http://www.bristolairport.co.uk
http://www.gbsts.com/index.html