Development of Wellesbourne Airfield meets with massive thumbs-down from local residents
THE latest proposals for the development of Wellesbourne Airfield have met with a massive thumbs-down from local residents following a public consultation exercise.
Plans unveiled by strategic land promoter Gladman and commercial property developer Stoford are facing cynicism, and even suspicion, from campaigners who’re determined the airfield should survive as a significant aviation centre.
The response, in a nutshell, is that the proposals don’t make sense, either economically or from a planning perspective. This has led to fears that the airfield’s aviation activities could be curtailed by stealth, making the venue inoperative as an airfield in the longer term.
Such an outcome would fly in the face of official policy. Some years ago Stratford District Council even obtained compulsory purchase powers to save the airfield for aviation purposes when it was threatened with the prospect of being turned into a gigantic housing estate of 1,750 homes.
The immediate threat of a housing development was squashed, and since then there’s been lots of talk about the airfield’s future for aviation and how it can fit into Wellesbourne’s increasing importance in cutting edge technology as an adjunct to the University of Warwick’s innovation campus in the village.
Reaction from local people who visited the consultation meetings – which were organised by the developers – can best be summed up by this statement on the website of Wellesbourne Matters: “Feedback from our members that attended the public sessions is universally negative against the proposal and so we find that we will be unable to support any part of the proposal as it currently stands.”
Meanwhile both Gladman and Stoford have defended their proposals to the Herald and say they will consider all the consultation feedback before putting forward their planning application. The public consultation process ended on Friday (22nd September).
They say the proposals will ensure the long-term future of the airfield through the delivery of a new runway and advanced aviation facilities, alongside a new high-quality employment park that will generate significant job opportunities.
“The plans will see the airfield revitalised with a new runway, new hangars, aircraft parking and maintenance facilities, along with a new control tower, a check-in area, waiting lounge and café,” they said. “The proposals also include new flexible industrial floor space to meet a variety of smaller needs.”
The companies believe that the significant investment into the airfield will attract new business, training and recreational flyers to the site, appealing to a future new commercial operator.
“The airfield enhancements would be funded via the redevelopment of the underused part of the existing site into a new, high-quality employment park of approximately 210, 000 sq. m. of industrial and logistics space,” they said.
But clearly the local residents are unimpressed. One of the key complainants is Maria Gibson, who lives in Chestnut Grove, Wellesbourne. She told the Herald that she and other residents in the road had received a leaflet from Gladman revealing that the company planned to build 13 warehouses “behind our properties on the airfield”.
She said: “Their proposal not only makes the airfield financially unviable but also drastically reduces the look and feel of our estate, as well as increasing traffic from the volume of HGV lorries that will come into the new development.”
One of the campaigners’ concerns is that runway capacity on the airfield will be substantially reduced by the removal of existing capacity and the creation of a new 917m by 23m runway.
Ms Gibson said: “They are selling it as ‘saving the airfield’ whilst bringing in highly-skilled employment to the area. Both of these are completely wrong. I have spoken to an aviation expert who uses the airfield now and he confirmed planes will stop coming in. The Munster jet won’t be able to land, or the other jets from major businesses in the area.
“The type of warehouses they wish to build lend themselves to distribution units. Wages are usually the minimum wage…The current warehouses cannot recruit locally and [they] bring in staff from areas such as Coventry.
“If this application is agreed it will be a catastrophe for the village.”
In their comments online, the Wellesbourne Matters group said that after visiting the public exhibition on the future of the airfield “to say we were extremely disappointed in the content is a gross understatement”.
They were particularly concerned that the developers were unable to give them any figures on the costs of moving and re-aligning the runway or of the various airfield building developments outlined in their proposals.
“Without the developers knowing even roughly what these costs will be, we feel it is unlikely at this stage that they intend to carry out any of the airfield developments,” the campaigners said.
Cllr George Cowcher (Lib Dem, Wellesbourne South), Stratford District Council’s portfolio holder for planning and economic development – and in whose ward the airfield is situated – told the Herald that the memorandum of understanding between Gladman and the council agreed that airfield activity would be retained but some new commercial development would be allowed.
“It was estimated that it was going to be of a high-tech nature which would be related to the aviation activity,” he said. But he added: “The new runway will not be adequate and furthermore it will not be big enough to take jet aircraft, so the usability of the airfield is compromised.”
Cllr Cowcher has made one thing very clear to the people of Wellesbourne, and that is that no decision has been taken. “There is a long way to go before we have an acceptable scheme in relation to Wellesbourne Airfield,” he said.
However Chris Still, senior planning and development director at Gladman, told the Herald: “We are in direct dialogue with Wellesbourne Airfield’s single jet aircraft user and there are numerous business aircraft which could be accommodated with the proposed licensed runway.
“Air travel generally is moving towards lighter, more efficient and more sustainable aircraft, and our proposals are about making a significant investment in the airfield and its facilities in order to increase overall usage.
“With regards to design, we will consider all consultation feedback and we are exploring further opportunities for bunding and semi-mature structural planting. A detailed landscape and visual assessment will be included as part of the planning application.”
And Stoford director Andy Hartwright said: “Discussions with potential occupiers are ongoing, with uses for the buildings including production, manufacturing and industrial, all of which create significant high-quality jobs.
“The site location will also appeal to aviation related uses. The buildings will be designed to a high specification, including elevational treatments and will be situated and sited with careful consideration to the visual impact.”
But people like Maria Gibson are wary about these words. “It’s a smokescreen,” she said. “it’s a ploy to say ‘we’ve given you an airfield, but it’s not our fault it doesn’t work’.”
As Cllr Cowcher has pointed out, there’s still a long way to go…
