Airport site homes plan 'obstructed’
Businessman embroiled in row with council leader over Solent proposal
A BUSINESSMAN who wants to build homes at Solent Airport has hit out at a council leader who he says is being ‘obstructive’ towards his bid.
Peter Day, from Hangar Homes Ltd, said he was
denied access to the airfield to conduct a ground survey by the landlord - Fareham Borough Council.
Mr Day believes that councillor Sean Woodward, leader of the council, is being ‘wilfully obstructive’ as ‘he does not want the planning application to succeed’.
He said: ‘He may have an issue with the residential element of what I'm looking to do but it's the residential element that makes this work.
‘It’s mixed-use, the whole of the ground floor is commercial plus a private office upstairs as well - 60 per cent of the floorspace is designated as commercial and 40 per cent is residential.
‘I’ve got twice as many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that want one of these units that I've got available - they haven't even been built - so there is a definite demand.
‘We’re talking about 2-5 employees where they can live above the shop. The main reason is that they don’t have to pay for a hangar, workshop or office - broadly speaking it will save about £1,000 a month.
‘To an SME that’s a lot of money, and they don’t have to commute to work because they’re living there.’
Cllr Woodward maintains the airfield should be used to generate employment only, while expressing security concerns shared by the airport management.
‘We’ve taken the airfield on to generate employment, not build houses - that was one of the conditions when we took the land on,’ he said. ‘I can say categorically as landlord we will not be selling any land to anyone - which includes Mr Day - for any form of residential development.’
Martin Francis, airport manager for Solent Airport Daedalus raised fears over the security of the build ‘and the responsibility of airfield access being controlled by a household occupant’.
Cllr Woodward added: ‘If we’ve got the airport management concerned about security then what would you expect me to say as landlord?’
Mr Day describes the security concerns as ‘nonsense’.