I don't usually post at the weekend. But here we are.

Bristol Airport Expansion: A Local Decision You Can Still Influence

Something I get asked a lot in DMs, in emails, after talks, is some version of: what can I actually do? People who care deeply about nature, who feel the weight of what is happening ecologically, but who aren’t sure where to start. Who feel small in the face of large systems.

Photo by Amsterdam City Archives on Unsplash

My answer is almost always the same: start local.

Start where decisions are actually being made. Because in the UK and across much of the Global North, we have something genuinely precious: democratic planning systems and publicly accessible information. That isn’t nothing. That is a lot. And it comes with responsibility: to show up, even briefly, even imperfectly.

So today, on a Saturday, I am asking you to do exactly that. Because tomorrow (Sunday 28th June) is the deadline to submit objections to the latest Bristol Airport expansion planning application. Reference: 26/P/0686/OU2, submitted to North Somerset Council.

What is actually being proposed

Bristol Airport wants to grow from 12 million passengers a year to 15 million. That is a significant increase in flights, including around 1,000 additional night flights annually and it requires new infrastructure.

Here is the bit that matters most for those of us paying attention to what is happening on the ground: part of this proposal involves installing a strip of approach landing lights across Felton Common.

And Felton Common is not just any field.

It is a designated local nature reserve and site of nature conservation. One of those rare open landscapes that still supports traditional grazing, public recreation and protected wildlife habitat side by side. It is home to bats, badgers, barn owls and Red-listed skylarks, which depend on its open grassland to breed. It is home to bees and other insects. The Common also supports species-rich grassland, rare waxcap fungi, and is managed for biodiversity under a DEFRA stewardship agreement.

Save Felton Common Eyesonbristolairport

This is the kind of place that takes centuries to develop and can be permanently altered in a planning cycle. Felton Common has existed as designated common land since medieval times. Once infrastructure goes in (lighting columns, fencing, roads) the character of the site changes. Light pollution doesn’t just make things less pretty at night. It disrupts natural circadian rhythms in wildlife, interferes with migratory birds and disturbs nocturnal insects like moths and mammals like bats. For pollinators already navigating a fragmented and degraded landscape, every additional pressure compounds the last.

Direct Local Bristol Eyesonbristolairport

Habitat loss and fragmentation don’t announce themselves dramatically. They happen piece by piece, application by application, until one day you are looking at a countryside that used to hold something and now doesn’t.

The bigger picture

Aviation is a sector where emissions are notoriously difficult to address and airport expansion locks in infrastructure that lasts for generations. Cardiff Airport already offers regional connectivity and some long-haul options. The question worth asking (and worth putting in writing to a planning committee) is whether further expansion at Bristol is necessary given the UK’s legally binding climate and biodiversity commitments.

The government’s own Environmental Audit Committee has indicated that the current Airport National Policy Statement needs revision in light of net zero targets. A draft revised ANPS isn’t expected until July 2026, which means this planning application is being assessed before updated national guidance exists. That is a legitimate concern worth raising.

Eyesonbristolairport

What you can do right now if you live in the UK

Submit an objecton via the North Somerset Council planning portal. The application reference is 26/P/0686/OU2.

Click here for the direct link»»»
https://planning.n-somerset.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=TCIP27LP01600

It can be brief. A few sentences count. Longer responses carry more weight, but participation itself matters. Below is a simple template to get you started.

Template objection (adapt as you wish):

I am writing to formally object to planning application 26/P/0686/OU2 for the expansion of Bristol Airport.

My objection is based on the following grounds:

1. Biodiversity and habitat loss: The proposal involves infrastructure on Felton Common, a designated Local Nature Reserve and Site of Nature Conservation Interest. Under the Environment Act 2021, public authorities must consider the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity. The proposed landing lights and associated development risk significant harm to protected and declining species, including bats (protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017), Red-listed skylarks, and species-rich grassland habitat.

2. Climate commitments: The UK has legally binding carbon budgets under the Climate Change Act 2008. Expanding airport capacity increases aviation emissions and is inconsistent with the trajectory required to meet those targets. The Climate Change Committee has advised against net expansion of airports.

3. Common land: Felton Common is designated common land. Any development affecting it must be scrutinised under the Commons Act 2006, which protects public rights of access and the use of common land for local communities and livestock.

4. National policy timing: The current Airport National Policy Statement is under review. Determining this application before revised national guidance is in place risks decisions being made without adequate policy context.

I urge North Somerset Council to give full weight to these concerns and to refuse or substantially modify this application.

Planning decisions are one of the places where individual participation genuinely feeds into outcomes. Not always but often enough to matter. Councils are required to consider public responses. A well-reasoned objection, even a short one, enters the formal record.

You live somewhere. That somewhere has a planning system. Use it.

The deadline is tomorrow. It takes a few minutes. The bees, the skylarks and the waxcap fungi do not get a vote. But you do.

If you are in the UK, please submit an objection if you can. And if you know others who care about nature or local decision-making, feel free to pass this on.

If you are working on an environmental cause anywhere in the world and need support with communicating or mobilising around it, you are welcome to reach out: hello@beewitchingembassy.com

Meet Titanilla, international bee science communicator, editor of Bees & Beyond, founder of Beewitching Embassy