By Maria Zaccaro, Local Democracy Reporter
Southampton City Council has confirmed its objections to plans to extend the runway at Southampton Airport, despite further amendments to the application.
The airport wants to extend the runway by 164m so it can accommodate planes such as the Airbus 320 and Boeing 737.
But Southampton City Council, as a consultee to plans lodged with deciding authority Eastleigh Borough Council, has twice previously raised concerns over the impact the move would have on noise and pollution.
As the plans were amended last month, Southampton had to decide whether the additional information provided by the airport was relevant enough for the plans to be scrutinised again.
But during a meeting held on Tuesday night (Feb 23), the Planning and Rights of Way Panel (PROW) decided to uphold objections.
The latest plans suggested that without the runway extension in 2027 the airport would have about one million passengers per annum. According to the new documents the airport breaks even with 1.2 million passengers per annum.
During the meeting, campaigner Angela Cotton raised concerns over the scheme and the impact it would have on noise.
But speaking on behalf of Southampton Airport, planning consultant Robin Henderson, said: “We feel that the mitigation is significant and when you balance that against the significant contribution that the airport will continue to make to the economy we believe that balance does fall in favour of the proposed development.”
Airport bosses proposed to increase the financial support for acoustic insulation to nearby households to £5,000.
But a planning officer told the panel that it is not yet clear how much will be spent to mitigate the impact on nearby schools.
Cllr Lisa Mitchell, chair of the panel, said: “It has not been very long since we last discussed this and given that it doesn’t appear there have been many changes, particularly around the things that we raised when this came to us, I’d be happy to uphold our objection.”
All panel members voted to uphold the objection.
As reported, a final decision on the plan will be made by Eastleigh Borough Council.
A date for the meeting has yet to be confirmed.
• You can read detailed reports of previous PROW debates in January and December about the airport's application.
• The planning application is again open for public comment following the changes, until March 5,
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