Yes, the law will save us. Judiciary UK 2018, not fit for purpose. Its a shame because it has been a long fight for the residents on the airfield. I think I mentioned somewhere else that it is my understanding that the law firm on the side of the landlord took a large stake in the development business. It was only going to end up one way.
As time goes on, go places tailwheel aircraft (Maule, C180/185/195, Vans, Husky, etc) seem to increase their utility – not sure how many tarmac GA airports will be around twenty years from now.
The problem with farm strips, while they are fun to fly into – they are not near anything useful. By definition they are in the middle of nowhere. With the tarmac airports (many of them in useful places, like walking distance from the Blackpool trams, or a short bus ride to Chester city centre) gone, GA loses almost all of its utility. Not to mention that every airfield we lose, or is priced such that it’s only economical to operate from if you’re based there (due to absurd handling fees for non based aircraft) destroys the network effect.
I have a tailwheel aircraft that will operate very happily out of short grass strips, 95% of the time I’m landing at long tarmac airfields because they are usefully close to the place I want to travel to.
I agree 200%… the (many) people in GA who think farm strips will be GA’s salvation are deluding themselves. It is fun for the time being but years down the road will eventually become a race to the bottom as the participants get totally bored with visiting each other’s strips and eating off the same barbecue over and over 
It is like much of the aeroclub scene in some countries where they just visit other nearby aeroclubs. Eventually the activity will die out.
The court ruling is probably not what it seems. It says a landlord can chuck off a leaseholder before the lease ends, but that was always possible. What discourages landlords doing it is the necessary compensation, but in this case the property sharks are making so much money they can pay any amount and still make a killing. It’s a really bad precedent for GA airfields.
There are plenty of GA airfields with some tarmac but which has minimal maintenance, which argues for tailwheel, or regular dressing of the propeller.
Unlike alioth for some reason my tailwheel is allergic to tarmac, except for the occasional visit to the Channel Islands. The number of convenient grass airfields/farm strips in the UK is in the hundreds – the difference in utility between an aircraft that can land in both types, tarmac and air strip, and one that can’t, must be relevant. Many of the people I visit the most convenient airfield is a farm strip.
Visiting small city airports will still be available to GA, it is the cost of basing a typical four seater at a full service airport which will become prohibitive.
I do have some experience of this under the Landlord and Tenants Act 1954. Essentially as long as the tenant keeps paying the rent and doesn’t break the terms of the original contract it becomes a holdover lease and it’s near impossible to evict (unless there’s some kind of break clause). Unfortunately once it becomes ‘property development’ people with potentially very deep pockets will pay to make the problem go away.
Capitaine wrote:
Unfortunately once it becomes ‘property development’ people with potentially very deep pockets will pay to make the problem go away.
It degrades into a war of attrition. Tenants have no security to develop their business. Why put money into a facility upgrade when the landlord wants you out asap. The landlord then makes life difficult. Strange local bye laws appear which inhibit your business and customers. Soon as the tenant argues, landlord strikes him as an unruly tenant and can ’irritate’’ the lease. It is all that the locals talk about, and that in turn plays on your stress levels. Running your business is tough enough, without the stress of aggressive landlords ruining your day.
I get both sides. At Wellsbourne you have a very large area of land, a gizzillion houses can be built, as opposed to an airfield on said land, paying a pittance in annual rent. If it were my land? My understanding is that the land owners are not aviation people.
If it were my land?
If it were my land I would sell a little bit for housing and use the millions to improve the airfield for everyone.
RobertL18C wrote:
The number of convenient grass airfields/farm strips in the UK is in the hundreds – the difference in utility between an aircraft that can land in both types, tarmac and air strip, and one that can’t, must be relevant. Many of the people I visit the most convenient airfield is a farm strip.
You may be in the minority, though, if you’re going places and visiting people who can give you a lift.
There’s already huge holes in the UK where there is no useful airfield with services, and the farm strips don’t make up for it. For instance, I have friends in Weston-super-Mare. But with both WSM and Filton gone, and the cost of Bristol airport for a weekend exceeding my fuel costs of getting there, the only useful airfield is actually Gloucestershire which is miles away but is replete with useful ground transportation (nearby train station within easy distance on a Brompton, car hire at the airport, taxis available). None of the farm strip options have any useful ground transportation and are at least an hours driving each way from WSM due to all being in the middle of nowhere down narrow country lanes, and asking my friends to drive 2 hours down narrow lanes to pick me up seems like imposing on them. There’s also the problem of getting PPR in many cases (no one answers the phone).
There’s also people who go flying to visit new places where they don’t necessarily know anyone who can give them a lift. For instance, if I wanted to visit Bristol for a weekend out, then Gloucestershire would still end up beating all the farm strips by a country mile (pun intended) simply because it has ground transportation, and none of the farm strips are at all practical due to the absence of ground transportation, and it’s miles away from Bristol.
There’s also the issue of the decline of other things in the UK which makes going somewhere rural less attractive unless you’re going to visit someone who lives there and can ferry you around. For instance, when I stayed at Spanhoe to do the stuff for the permit renewal down there, while it was nice to have the Spanhoe lodge right next door (and it’s a really nice little hotel, and during the day we had fun tinkering with the plane) – due to the rural pub crisis in England, none of the villages within walking distance still had a pub or a restaurant, just closed buildings where the pub used to be with a forlorn “For sale” sign. You end up having to spend £70 on taxis just to visit somewhere with a reasonable restaurant.
alioth true am lucky the people I visit live nearby and give me a lift
