What happened at the 20 December meeting about airport expansion
Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007
Several Sustainable Redland members attended a meeting on 20 December where the Scrutiny Panel for Economic Development at North Somerset Council listened to Bristol Airport chiefs describing the proposed aiport expansion. The meeting was not very balanced, as the Chairman had decided that the Parish Councils, Friends of the Earth, Council for Protection of Rural England, and the Woodlands Trust, were only allowed to ask questions even though they had all requested in advance, and been granted the right to speak. The Airport staff were allowed to speak for as long as they liked, and were given the opportunity to respond at length to every comment. It also seemed clear that the North Somerset Councillors were surprised by many of the facts put forward about climate change and the impact of aviation, and it was hard not to wonder whether the Council Officers had kept councillors properly informed about recent reports such as the Stern review. Eventually after repeated requests from councillors, the Chairman agreed to allow parties other than the Airport to speak for three minutes each. Many councillors clearly felt a bit out of their depth in interpreting the conflicting information being out forward. The upshot was the committee decided it needed more information.
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