Bristol Airport debate: should it be expanded?
The West of England's Metro Mayor is calling on the region's leaders to oppose the plans, but Bristol's Mayor says there are a number of 'crises issues' that we could be debating
Bristol's Mayor says a motion to oppose the expansion of the city's airport will make 'no material difference'.
The West of England's Metro Mayor, Dan Norris, is leading a meeting next week, where he will urge the region's leaders to scrap any previous endorsement of the plans.
Mr Norris says that we are 'in the midst of a climate and biodiversity emergency' and that 'now is not the time to seek to expand Bristol Airport’s flight numbers'.
But Marvin Rees says that next week's motion will make 'no material difference':
"Time is limited. We’ve got a number of crises in the city, one of those is housing – where are we going to build our homes? That is in the Combined Authority’s realm, the airport is not in the Combined Authority's area.
"How are we going to manage the relationship between Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset with the challenge of building the uplift in homes? How are we going to manage our role in providing homes to Afghan Refugees? How are we going to support the development of the skills needed to actually deliver the decarbonisation of Bristol’s economy and the West of England’s economy?
"I think there are a number of issues that are crises issues right now that we could be debating and those debates would have a material impact on what we do as a region."
Marvin Rees - Mayor of Bristol
So far, it is reported that the motion being put forward by Mr Norris next week will have the backing of BANES Liberal Democrat leader, Cllr Kevin Guy; as well as North Somerset Council's leader, independent Cllr Don Davies.
The West of England Combined Authority’s (Weca’s) joint committee decision will be by a majority vote of the five members, so the motion will be carried if Mr Norris and Cllrs Guy and Davies support is as expected.
Mr Norris says if we are serious about hitting net zero by 2030, that 'we all have to do our bit':
"I’m hoping that people will listen to the motion including the people who are making this decision about the expansion of the airport, and it’s an important message that people need to be aware of.
"What I think is going on in our region, is that the people are ahead of the politicians. I think they are very much against further expansion of the airport and there’s a reason for that - that they’re concerned about the climate emergency and the fact that we don’t have the animals and plants that we used to and they’re thinking we’ve got to do something about it.
"An emergency is an emergency, it’s not just a word and therefore we need to act, we need to do something.
"The work goes on irrespective of this motion. This motion is just making the point that we need moral leadership in all aspects of meeting that very ambitious climate target of net zero by 2030."
Dan Norris - Metro Mayor for the West of England
Councillors will vote on the motion next Tuesday (21 September).
Marvin Rees has said that he will not be able to make the meeting, as he is giving the Chamberlain Lecture in London.