Councillor Colin Timson - BIA Consultative Committee representative for the Chew Valley Cluster of Parishes.

The Planning Application acknowledges that the car will provide the main means of access to BIA for the foreseeable future. And the A368 and B3130 will continue to provide the main East – West, West - East link corridor between the A37 and A38 roads. Roads that pass through Hamlets and villages such as Bishop Sutton, Chew Stoke, and Chew Magna, and past Visitor and Regional Attractions such as The Chew Valley Lake.

Traffic Surveys carried out by B&NES in 2004, 7 and 9 in Chew Magna, show an overall increase in traffic of 33%. This correlates with an increase of 36% in BIA passenger traffic during the same period. In the spring of 2004 there were just over 4,000 vehicles counted between 7am and 7pm, and by spring 2009 this had increased to just over 5,300, an extra 1,350 vehicles per day, 6,750 vehicles per week, 350,000 vehicles per year.

If we were to see the same % traffic increase in proportion over the next 10 - 11 years, then traffic on the B3130 will increase to just over 700,000 vehicles per annum, a 100% increase in 15 years which the affected Parish Councils believe is totally unacceptable considering the nature of traffic involved.

In fact the 33% increase in traffic over the past 5 years should have already triggered Rule1 of IMEI Guidelines on Magnitude of effect.

B&NES own Highways response to the application concludes that the impact of increased traffic is substantial and will exacerbate existing problems due to existing carriageway widths, on-street parking and limited pedestrian provision. These must be mitigated. And that unless an acceptable contribution is secured for use on traffic management and safety measures in Chew Magna and the surrounding area, then the highway response would be one of OBJECTION, on grounds of highway safety.

It is clear from its rural location, lack of public transport links and poor road access that BIA was never intended to become a busy international airport and should never have been permitted to reach even its present size and complexity without major road infrastructure improvements. And the Planning Application fails to address these problems in the short and medium term.

To minimise the effects of traffic on the villages and surrounding Chew Valley roads, we maintain that any expansion should be gradual and commensurate with the implementation of all necessary improvements to road and public transport infrastructures. Such improvements must include a strategic transport corridor, in the form of a South Bristol Link/Ring Road; improved A38 link(s) to the M5; and direct public transport links to the airport. And we believe that Passenger numbers should not be permitted to grow from current levels unless and until surface access and public transport is improved.

Finally, that B&NES must take into account the findings of the regional Joint Local Transport Plan 2006/7 – 2010/11 particularly section 7.5 Road Safety Strategy in Non-Built Up Areas, plus, this application conflicts with a key transport and access objective in the B&NES Local Plan Strategy, which is to “reduce the adverse impact of all forms of travel on the natural and built environment”.

Thank You