Airport expansion bid Residents fight plans for lights on common

A GROUP of neighbours have opposed Bristol Airport's plan to expand onto a nature reserve by installing landing lights to enable transatlantic flights.

- Alex DRISCOLL

The Save Felton Common Group (SFCG), representing around 120 residents, is fighting plans to install floodlights up to 8.5 metres high. They argue the project would require a section of the nature reserve to be de-registered as public land. Bristol Airport revealed in 2024 its ‘Master Plan’ to expand the airport for a second time in just a few years with the maximum passenger numbers expanding from 12 million to 15 million.

The move would mean a longer runway to take bigger transatlantic planes. However, for this to happen, the runway approach lighting would need to be moved 240 metres further east into Felton Common on the other side of the A38. The airport said that lighting closest to the A38 would be 1.25 metres in height, increasing to 8.5 metres because of the need to maintain a constant level of lighting on the downward slope of the cmmon.

In response, SFCG said the plans were a “total shock to the local community”.