Several years ago we received information about an airpark in England – Telford Skypark in Telford – but have never been able to obtain any updates on the project. Now, Judith Woodsworth is travelling in Europe studying European Rural Development and plans a “dissertation on the benefits, or not, of Airparks/ Aviator Villages to the sustainable development of a rural area.”
She agreed to check up on some of the airparks we shared with her and recently she sent us the following information about Telford:
“The AirPark at Telford never got off the ground. It was subject to a public enquiry and planning was denied even though every residential plot was spoken for and the industrial units too. Funnily one of the Directors is now my flight instructor – she’s excellent. Just passed my Air Law and hopefully 1st solo soon.”
2 replies on “Telford Skypark, England, failed to develop”
Should have made more use of Internet searching; no secrecy about this, unlike the constitution of the Skypark board of directors and their spin attempts.
The application was investigated by a government planning inspector, with planning Counsel support to the scheme proponents. They failed to convince that there was any need or benefit to the community or the wider region which could justify sacrificing prime agricultural land. The application was turned down in 1993.
22 years on it is news to learn that there was any committed commercial interest in the scheme at the time or that there was a female director additional to the three male front faces in all attempts to promote their adventure.
It is unlikely that any agricultural or ‘brown field’ land would get change of use to an airfield in the UK because of the requirement by local councils to protect the countryside and the demand for housing. However many GA airfields in the UK are being lost to aviation by local councils wanting to use them for housing or business parks. My Hangar Homes are designed for mixed-use UK GA airfields, and will help them to become sustainable and virtually guarantee continued flying operations because of the vested interest of owners. To that end, they have a relatively small ‘footprint’ with the living accommodation above the hangar and car garage. and are aimed for use on UK and European GA airfields.: http://www.hangarhomes.co.uk