Bristol Airport Parking Site Ruled Unlawful Despite Operating for More Than a Decade

An off-site car park used by passengers travelling through Bristol Airport has failed in an attempt to have its long-running airport parking operation declared lawful.

Yew Tree Paddocks on Downside Road, close to Bristol Airport, applied to North Somerset Council for a Certificate of Lawfulness covering the use of the land for parking customers’ vehicles associated with the airport.

The operator argued that airport parking had taken place at the property for more than ten years, with the current operation said to have begun on a relatively modest scale around 2014.

Normally, evidence showing that a particular use has continued for the required period can be important when determining whether an existing use has become lawful for planning purposes.

However, this case has an important complication.

North Somerset Council says an enforcement notice relating to airport parking at the site was issued in 2006 and remains in force.

The application acknowledged the historic enforcement action but argued that the current parking operation was a newer use which began years later.

Supporting information included accounts from customers who said they had regularly left vehicles at the property while travelling through Bristol Airport since around 2014 or 2015.

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North Somerset Council nevertheless refused the application, concluding that the claimed airport-parking use remains in breach of the existing enforcement notice.

The council said that because the enforcement notice remains in force, the use cannot be regarded as lawful and the requirements for issuing a Certificate of Lawfulness had therefore not been satisfied.

The decision forms part of a much wider effort to tackle unauthorised airport parking around Bristol Airport.

Bristol Airport, North Somerset Council and Avon and Somerset Police announced a joint Parking Action Plan earlier this year aimed at tackling illegal off-site parking companies, rogue meet-and-greet operators and nuisance parking affecting nearby communities.

Bristol Airport said North Somerset Council’s planning enforcement team carried out more than 1,000 monitoring visits during 2025 as part of its work targeting unauthorised parking operations.

The airport has also warned passengers that businesses operating close to the airport are not necessarily affiliated with or approved by Bristol Airport simply because they offer airport parking.

Passengers considering an independent parking provider are advised to check the company’s credentials, reviews, terms and conditions and any relevant parking-industry accreditation before handing over their vehicle.

The Yew Tree Paddocks case is fundamentally a planning and enforcement matter. The council’s refusal of the Certificate of Lawfulness should not be interpreted as an allegation that customers using the parking service have committed any offence.

It does, however, demonstrate why a business operating for many years does not necessarily mean that its use of a site has automatically become lawful where an existing planning enforcement notice remains in force.

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