Very sad news: Gama have announced officially that they are stopping GA operations at Fairoaks. They say this is driven by the threats to the long term use of the airfield, which have made recruiting difficult and investing in the facilities unjustifiable. So it becomes even harder to justify keeping the airfield open… Circle of doom.
I’ve just received the following communication from another aviation group which may be of interest:
We recently received correspondence from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on General Aviation. They write:
I know you care about General Aviation, but we also know it’s been under considerable pressure in recent years; not least through the nation’s precious airfields being closed for other development. Given that General Aviation supports tens of thousands of high-tech jobs and growth in the UK, from training through business aviation, we want you to help – and now the perfect opportunity has arisen.
The Government has just released its draft revised national planning policy. It’s called the National Planning Policy Framework, or NPPF. And thanks to the APPG on GA (and many other organisations); they have included a new paragraph to specifically recognise General Aviation Airfields for the first time ever.
This is very good news… but it doesn’t go far enough
That’s why we are proposing four further small tweaks. You’ll find them on our website at www.generalaviationappg.uk/nppf – if you agree simply add your name and address and submit the proposed NPPF changes which could provide a massive boost to UK GA. We will automatically forward these onto the consultation the Government are undertaking.
Your support right now would be hugely appreciated by thousands involved in Aviation. Remember without General Aviation our overall Aviation Sector can’t survive and we will lose £60 billion a year from the UK economy.
Matthew Bolshaw
Public Liaison Officer to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on General Aviation.
If you care about General Aviation, go ahead and give 60-seconds of your time by completing this consultation response
This came on email today
“Tens of thousands of new homes in greenfield areas to get automatic planning permission” <> “greenfield sites are to receive automatic planning permission to be built upon”
Peter wrote:
Anecdotally, it appears that most of the really active boycotters fly only ~ 10hrs a year
Of course they don’t do more than 10 hrs, if they’ve boycotted all these places, there’s nowhere left for them to fly to!
This is not a problem of UK GA alone…. How often have we had threads about “GA friendly” airfields? One of the main points which seems to make an airfield GA friendly are low (or no) landing fees. No way will anyone invest 5…10 millions in a business which is not allowed to charge for the service offered…
The UK GA scene has for long suffered from an airfield lynch mob, very active on the UK forums, which slags off and boycotts every place charging more than about £10. Anecdotally, it appears that most of the really active boycotters fly only ~ 10hrs a year but they do a lot of damage via their domination of the UK forums with vast amounts of drivel postings. Thankfully we don’t have them here on EuroGA.
However I didn’t think other countries in Europe have this problem.
The trouble is that that is also a recipe for the Madonnas of this world to close an airfield altogether.
Nobody can prevent that, if an airfield is for sale by an owner who is sick of the hassle and infighting that is an inevitable part of owning a UK airfield. But not even Madonna, who could probably write a £10M cheque anytime, succeeded in buying and closing Compton Abbas.
what_next wrote:
A day has only 24 hours, even for polititians.
Sure, but they’ll come up with statistics to prove it has more (or fewer) depending…
The problem is that almost everybody in UK GA wants to use a facility without paying for it.
This is not a problem of UK GA alone…. How often have we had threads about “GA friendly” airfields? One of the main points which seems to make an airfield GA friendly are low (or no) landing fees. No way will anyone invest 5…10 millions in a business which is not allowed to charge for the service offered…
NB: I signed that petition as well but honestly don’t believe it will achieve anything. Furthermore there is such a flood of petitions created via the internet that the governments can only ignore them. A day has only 24 hours, even for polititians.
