Have you noticed what’s happening at Wycombe Air Park? Back in February 2021 Bucks Council fenced off the southern part of the airfield – resulting in the airfield manager banning gliding on unspecified safety grounds – and leased it to Stage Fifty, who are busy building a film studio before their planning application has been decided. This development has been on the books for a while and is enshrined in the 2019 Local Plan, which also requires that the gliding club should be moved to the north side of the airfield. The council spent a lot of time and money on plans for a glider take-off track, planning permission for which was granted in December 2021, but this is not now progressing because the airfield manager says no – so the gliding club is homeless and facing closure.
There’s a lot
that’s wrong with this situation – a decades-old gliding club which has
introduced thousands to low-cost flying forced off its home base,
council-sponsored building going on without planning permission, a community
asset trashed, and an airfield manager with his own plans for development of
the airfield - he’s the CEO of HeliAir so one can only imagine what that might
mean.
If you would
like to comment on the planning application, ref 21/07902/FUL, you can find it on the council website (when
it’s working) here: https://publicaccess.wycombe.gov.uk/idoxpa-web/
The date for
website comments has passed but you can still email your comments to planning.wyc@buckinghamshire.gov.uk
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