Today (Tuesday 31 January 2023) a High Court challenge against Bristol Airport's expansion plans were rejected.

Several local councils, and hundreds of campaigners and environmental groups, have been fighting the plans since 2020.

Expansion would see the airport increase its capacity from ten million to 12 million passengers per year. There are concerns now that other airports will also put in plans to get bigger.

Bristol Green councillor Stephen Clarke from the Bristol Airport Action Network, one of the organisations that spoke at the hearing against expansion claimed last year that there were over 20 regional airports thinking about increasing flight and passengers numbers . He said at the time: "Bristol Airport is the first to go to a planning appeal. That makes it really important as a precedent."

Bath and North East Somerset Council voted last year to oppose the expansion along with Bristol City Council, saying the expansion was "incompatible" with the climate emergency. North Somerset Council has made the same declaration, pledging to be carbon neutral by 2030.

As well as more passengers on more flights, many overnight, the plans also propose extending the seasonal silver zone car park with more than 2,700 spaces for year-round use and the construction of a multi-storey car park.

Reacting to the High Court decision on Bristol Airport Metro Mayor Dan Norris said: "The deep concerns of local people and the decisions of local politicians have come into head-on collision with national government policy that is not fit for purpose.

For all their warm words this decision shows the government is not serious about the climate emergency.

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Lord Justice Lane confirmed today that the expansion will impact the environment but as we know Government policy gives no consideration to the combined impact of airport emissions.

This must change. We are all seeing the devastating effects of climate change with floods in Keynsham a few weeks ago and record breaking temperatures this summer. So many plants and animals are under threat of being lost for ever."