Threatened airfields

I hope you are right Dean, I will keep my fingers crossed. My wife took this of my Fairthorpe and the resident Tipsy the weekend before the airfield was closed………..Martin
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Response from Secretary of State on Panshanger

Hi All. I received a letter this month from the Secretary of State for Conservation in which i appealed an earlier decision by him and he is having a rethink on Panshanger Aerodrome.

Time will tell if we have done enough but I am confident planes will once again land and take off from there.

I sent a copy of the letter to the Editor of FlyPast.

Regards,

Dean McBride
Holwell Hyde Heritage

Your reply re-awakened my interest from many years ago…this from the relevant debate in the Lords.

“Lord Nugent is recorded in Hansard as saying: “The history of the airfield is that it was originally requisitioned in wartime in 1943 for wartime purposes and from that time there has been a clear undertaking that when it was no longer required for these purposes it would be returned for its pre-war agricultural use. Over the intervening years this undertaking has been re-stated from time to time by various Government departments who have been responsible for authorising this special occupancy. The local authorities, the Surrey County Council and the Guildford Borough Council, insisted that when the property was sold back to its pre-war owner, Lord Lytton, all the buildings and hard standings, including the runway, must be removed to ensure a return to its agricultural use before the war and to preserve the general policy of conserving the green belt. More recently, after a good deal of discussion, these conditions were confirmed and a letter was sent by the PSA[a] on 15th November 1977 to the effect that Wisley Airfield would not be sold until both the buildings and the runway had been removed. Further letters were written in 1978 confirming this and, finally, there was a letter from the junior Minister of the Department of the Environment Mr. Ken Marks, on 6th March last year (1979) to the Dorking Member of Parliament, Sir George Sinclair, making the same confirmation. It was thus a great surprise to everybody when the axe fell on 13th July last year with a letter from the PSA stating that the sale would be made with the runway still in situ. This decision by the PSA makes the site available for future use as a commercial airport, in direct breach of all the undertakings over the previous 36 years and in direct breach of the major conservation considerations for the green belt. My noble friend Lord Onslow will deal in more detail with the particular villainies of the breach.”

So it was clearly in private hands when it was requisitioned. And as you correctly say,a magnet for developers with strong local opposition to current plans.

Over the years, Wisley has always been a magnet for developers. My clear understanding is that it has to be returned to common land. I don’t know about the claim of the Ockham Estate

I admit that my info is some twenty or, slightly more, years old but, is first hand and relates to a search made by myself and business partners to find the owners of the airfield after it closed.

Our intention was to open a microlite training center. Our searches were concentrated upon the Land Registry and Guildford Borough Council. Everywhere we enquired we drew a blank. There were just three pieces of information that eventually emerged – consistently:

Part or, the whole of the airfield was part of Wisley Common
The airfield was not owned by BAe
The ‘owners’ were a corporate body located in a Caribbean tax haven

My special interest was that, apart from anything else, I lived in the area at Weybridge.

Certainly the developer seemed certain that it was ripe for development but he would wouldn’t he?

I don’t think that is correct, is it? Wisley was part of the Ockham Estate when it was requisitioned. I think it was formally returned to the Estate or its inheritors about 30 years ago. But please advise if you have better information.

I’d be more than surprised if the developers got away with that. Wisley airfield is built on Wisley Common; therefore common land. I do not know whether it has been registered as such.

It’s long been inactive but there is a proposal for 2000 houses on Wisley airfield in Surrey. On the ITV programme last week it looked as thought there was ample space for a GA runway but I guess that is wishful thinking.

London Glasgow Airport that would suit Ryanair then!

Shouldn’t that be: Cotswold (London) Airport ?

If they carry on with that the next thing you know it will be London(Glasgow) (connecting flights flights by own arrangements).

Shouldn’t that be: Cotswold (London) Airport ?

Add Cotswold Airport (formerly Kemble) to the list.

Apparently there is a proposal to build up to 2,000 houses and mixed use associated development, according to BBC Gloucestershire.
Quote; “Matthew Tunley, from the developer, said: “If the site was to be developed for housing, it is likely the airport would close.”:mad:

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-31530303

I believe that golf courses have a different planning designation to airfields, which I think was introduced under the guidance of a certain former Deputy Prime Minister.

I still have my correspondence regarding: “PPG3 – The definition of ‘Brownfield’ in PPS3 Housing, Annex A [DRAFT]” from February 2006.

Why don’t they build houses on golf courses? Participation in this most tedious of all ‘sports’ is dropping fast which should hopefully result in many clubs going under.