A longer runway would mean landing lights on the ancient Felton CommonThe approach to Bristol Airport from the east. the village of Winford is in the bottom right, with Felton Common in the foreground, the A38 road and then the airport runway. Bristol Airport wants to extend the runway closer to the A38 and move approach landing lights onto Felton CommonThe approach to Bristol Airport from the east. the village of Winford is in the bottom right, with Felton Common in the foreground, the A38 road and then the airport runway. Bristol Airport wants to extend the runway closer to the A38 and move approach landing lights onto Felton Common(Image: Google Earth)

Bristol Airport has announced its expansion plans to extend the runway to take transatlantic flights will mean taking over a section of common land so it can install landing lights. The airport has said it will launch a consultation later this week, but opponents of the airport expansion plan described the move as ‘absolutely outrageous and unacceptable’.

Bristol Airport revealed a year ago 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. The airport said it would be submitting a planning application to North Somerset Council later in 2025 but that has not happened yet.

Campaigners opposing the expansion claim the plans have been delayed because airport bosses forgot to include the need to move the approach landing lights, if the runway is to be lengthened further east towards the A38 road. The Bristol Airport Action Network (BAAN) described this as a ‘shocking oversight’.

Now, Bristol Airport has admitted the landing approach lights would need to be moved onto the other side of the A38 and located on Felton Common, a green open space owned by Winford Parish Council, which includes scheduled ancient monuments, is a site of nature conservation, a local nature reserve and includes now-unused grazing rights for local people.

Bristol Airport said it would have to take and fence off some of that common land, to accommodate approach landing lights for the longer runway. “Since publishing the Master Plan the Airport has continued to refine its design to ensure it meets all relevant safety standards set by the Civil Aviation Authority, the UK’s independent regulator for aviation,” a spokesperson for the airport said.

“In order for the runway to continue operating safely, for all types of aircraft and in all weather conditions, the airport would need to relocate the existing approach lighting and install additional safety features at the eastern end of the runway. This is required in order to facilitate the new routes to America and the Middle East – key destinations that people in the region are keen to visit using their local airport.

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“The proposal would involve moving runway approach lighting and installing rows of lighting, and fencing around those lights, on parcels of land on Felton Common. People will still be able to continue to use all of the bridleways on the Common and care has been taken to maintain access across the Common.

“As the enclosed lighting would result in some loss of accessible open space and affect grazing rights, replacement land, accessible to all, would be provided adjacent to the Common,” they added.

The current view from the A38 looking west towards the end of the runway at Bristol Airport. Bristol Airport wants to extend the runway closer to the A38 and move approach landing lights onto Felton CommonThe current view from the A38 looking west towards the end of the runway at Bristol Airport. Bristol Airport wants to extend the runway closer to the A38 and move approach landing lights onto Felton Common(Image: Google Maps)

The airport is holding a six-week consultation, which starts this Friday (Nov 7) and runs until the Friday before Christmas, and the airport said it would be writing to nearby residents and those with grazing rights.

“While only small areas of the Common would be required for the lighting, we realise how important the open space is to local people, and so we are consulting with those with rights on the Common, users of the Common and local residents,” a spokesperson added.

“We would encourage people to find out more about our proposal and provide any feedback they might have to help shape our plans,” they said.

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Bristol Airport Action Network, a coalition of local residents living around the airport and environmental campaigners in the wider Bristol area, said its campaigners were outraged by what it described as an attempted land grab.

BAAN said not including the use of Felton Common in the Master Plan unveiled at the start of this year was a ‘shocking oversight’, and said the airport was now ‘scrambling to consult’.

“This is absolutely outrageous and unacceptable,” said local environmental campaigner Richard Baxter, from BAAN. “We’ve seen this time and time again – the airport slowly creeps beyond its borders to commandeer even more land for its corporate cash grab.

The approach to Bristol Airport from the east. the village of Winford is in the bottom right, with Felton Common in the foreground, the A38 road and then the airport runway. Bristol Airport wants to extend the runway closer to the A38 and move approach landing lights onto Felton CommonThe approach to Bristol Airport from the east. the village of Winford is in the bottom right, with Felton Common in the foreground, the A38 road and then the airport runway. Bristol Airport wants to extend the runway closer to the A38 and move approach landing lights onto Felton Common(Image: Google Earth)

“Felton residents shouldn’t have their community space reduced and their homes and wildlife facing such intense light pollution just to spare the Airport its blushes for forgetting about the safe landing of its long haul flights. This latest fiasco further undermines the Airports so-called ‘Master Plan’ and leaves us all asking – what else have they forgotten to tell us?” he added.

BAAN said its research suggested that the approach would be a row of bright white elevated lights placed 30 metres apart and stretching more than 250 metres long – ‘roughly equivalent to the length of Park Street in Bristol’, they said.

“The space will then need additional security measures, including a tall green fence to prevent people accessing the space,” a BAAN spokesperson said.

“It is anticipated that the new lights would allow the larger long-haul planes needed for transatlantic flights to approach the extended runway on a trajectory around nine metres lower than before.

A group of local residents and campaigners from Bristol Airport Action Network (BAAN) protest about the number of night flights at Bristol Airport - in a picture taken on Felton Common. In November 2025, the airport said its expansion plans would now also include using parts of Felton Common for approach landing lightsA group of local residents and campaigners from Bristol Airport Action Network (BAAN) protest about the number of night flights at Bristol Airport – in a picture taken on Felton Common. In November 2025, the airport said its expansion plans would now also include using parts of Felton Common for approach landing lights(Image: Bristol Airport Action Network)

“This could create a considerable additional vortex and exacerbate an existing effect which has already caused residents to lose roof tiles from their houses. The full implications of this change on local residents and public health is unclear.

“Felton Common, about 100 acres of designated open access land, is a cherished recreational space for residents as well as a local nature reserve, a conservation space, and an important archaeological site that includes Scheduled Ancient Monuments. More than 400 acres of green belt land has already been re-designated for airport use in the last 20 years, even before this shocking news about Felton Common land,” they added.