The UKÔÇÖs Bristol Airport has been given the go-ahead for expansion, which will enable it to significantly increase the number of passengers it handles.
The airport in western England is the ninth largest in the UK and currently handles around six million passengers each year. The approval to expand will see it aiming for numbers at around the 10 million mark by 2019-2020.
Bristol was the fastest growing top ten airport in the UK over the last decade, with an annual growth rate of 13.1 per cent.
The expansion plan for the airport, which is jointly owned by a unit of Australia's Macquarie and CanadaÔÇÖs Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, focuses around the existing site and does not involve an additional runway or terminalÔÇöthough an additional 12.4 hectares to the south of the current site will be earmarked for seasonal overflow car parking.
The project, which includes an extended airport terminal, 7,000 more car parking spaces and seven new aircraft stands, is expected to cost in the region of £150 million. Airport officials have said that 4,000 jobs could be created and £340 million injected into the local economy as a result of the proposed works.
The airport's operational site currently spans 176 hectares. The terminal will be extended east and west, increasing its size from 21,000 square metres to 47,000 square metres.
The 260-page planning report includes more than 60 conditions, including a restriction on night flights (between 11.30pm and 6am) and a contribution of more than £5.5 million for improvements to local transport.
A sum of £100,000 will also be granted towards an Environmental Improvement Fund, to help mitigate noise impact on local properties.
The airport must also carry out highway improvements at five key junctions in the local vicinity.
The approval will now be referred to the secretary of state for communities and local government, since the plans involve an element of development on green belt land. At this point the council will either be granted permission to proceed or the application will be called in and a public inquiry held.
There have been concerns from local campaigners that the airportÔÇÖs plans to increase passenger numbers to 10 million by 2019 would lead to a 125 per cent increase in CO2 emissions from flights.
The airport has said that at least 20 per cent of the predicted additional energy requirements will come from on-site renewable sources, including wind power and biomass heat generation.
Bristol Airport offers direct flights to 112 destinations across 29 countries, with 12 capital cities served by direct scheduled services. Over 2,900 people are employed at the airport, working for a total of 50 different businesses.
