I THINK it is disappointing that Mr Joyce who has some knowledge of aviation uses the two tragic accidents and the death of five people to further the nimbyist end of some residents of Ford.

His arguments are flawed. The crash at Blackbushe was not within the airfield boundary and the aircraft did not “veer away from the runway and crashed” – it overshot the runway by a very considerable amount and crashed on the car park at the end of the runway.

Our plans for Old Sarum will ensure that the extended centreline of the runway is protected for both take-off and landing. Of course our users are all propeller driven and so are very responsive to low speed throttle inputs unlike the light jet at Blackbushe. In the other crash example given by Mr Joyce, the Gnat jet was displaying at Oulton Park which is not even an airfield it is a racetrack.

These two accidents have no relevance to Old Sarum and to use them as an argument against our proposals is the same as saying that any fatal race car accident means all family cars should be abolished.

In addition the housing we propose is not within the airfield boundary and its siting and design have been carefully chosen after 10 years of research and collaborative work with the Salisbury District Council and then Wiltshire Council. The Core Policy with which our proposals are in full compliance, has been subjected to two Local Development Framework assessments with public hearings and in each case the Inspectors fully supported the Core Policy proposals. The Civil Aviation Authority has sent its comments on our proposals to Wiltshire Council and have stated “do not believe the housing structures shown in the elevation plan present any hazard to civil aviation as en‐route obstructions.”

After 28 years of meeting the operating losses of the Airfield our proposals are to (i) provide new nearest neighbours that will be supportive of the existing aviation use; (ii) use some of the proceeds of development to refurbish the existing listed buildings, create a new museum, new Heritage facilities, social housing for veterans, better parachuting facilities and new community facilities such as 2 restaurants, cycling and walking trails, viewpoints and children's play areas; and (iii) create a charitable trust to which the owners will gift the Airfield along with some of the listed and aviation facilities.

We are fortunate that our principal owner cares that flying continues at Old Sarum Airfield and has sound experience of rescuing airfields from closure. He was responsible for purchasing the lossmaking Prestwick Airport from BAA plc in 1992 and turning it into an extremely successful and highly profitable operation which he subsequently sold to Stagecoach plc in 1998. He has been personally meeting the losses of Old Sarum Airfield for 28 years. If it could have been made profitable, it would have been.

The alternative to our proposals is that the Airfield will close as it is simply not commercial. Because our proposals are congruent in every way with the Core Policy we are satisfied that our plans will be approved. The project we propose is not without commercial risk so if the local planners seek to make changes that increase that risk, we will not be able to agree and if the Wiltshire Council does not approve our plans we may appeal to the Secretary of State. Should we do so and if the Secretary of State not approve our plans as proposed or seeks to make changes that increase the considerable commercial risks in producing this highly community-oriented and beneficial project, the Airfield will close. That is the simple commercial reality.

Airfields are brownfield sites and Old Sarum is no different. The land will undoubtedly then be sold to a plc for development of housing similar to that built by Persimmon adjacent to the Airfield – some of it originally airfield land. Unlike our proposals which involve building on a small percentage of the property, as a brownfield site the entire property would be subject to development. Indeed under the new policies for brownfield sites announced by the government its development might well be accelerated.

Grenville Hodge
Old Sarum Airfield