New era £15m deal will ‘unleash the potential’ of airport
GLOUCESTERSHIRE Airport will close one runway and revamp two others to become “fit for purpose” after local councils struck a deal worth up to £15 million.
Gloucester City and Cheltenham Borough councils, which jointly own the airport as an arms-length company, gave the all-clear to pay £7.5m each for runway works in separate private meetings.
The £15m figure, which could be reduced depending on the upcoming tendering process, will pay for runway resurfacing, improving drainage, installation of new energy-efficient LED lighting, and ensuring the runway continues to meet Civil Aviation Authority guidelines.
Once the work is completed, expected to be by the end of 2021, the airport will hand the Meteor Business Park to the two local authorities to help pay for council services.
The annual rental income of £650,000 will be shared equally between the councils, they said.
Under the airport’s plans, the northsouth runway will close and a business park – the Cheltenham Gloucester Exchange (CGX) – will be built at the top end of it. Work will be carried out on the main and cross-wind runways.
Two of the three runways have been mostly out of use since October 2019, and the “deteriorating” main runway is thought to be 25 years past its design life and in need of repair.
Peter Hibberd, non-executive director and board chairman of the airport, said it would close one runway to “preserve the other two”, adding that “the rate of deterioration increased to a point where we needed to act”.
Mr Hibberd said the CGX business park would replace the income lost from transferring Meteor Business
Park.
The councils believe investing in the airport, which contributes around £52m annually to the local economy, supports the county’s ambitions to become the cyber capital of the UK.
They said allowing executive and business jets to fly into Gloucestershire Airport would support the cyber business park proposed for land next to GCHQ and Gloucester’s digital campus, the Forum.
The airport has a passenger terminal, and people can fly to Jersey and the Isle of Man. However, it mainly handles commercial flights. There are 85,000 movements each year.
The land on which the airport was built is in the Tewkesbury Borough Council area, and plans to build the CGX business park were submitted to that authority in August.
Mr Hibberd said: “The news of both councils approving the funding plan I would say is probably the most important thing to happen for Gloucestershire Airport in the last 30 years. It is fantastic news.”
He said the shareholders’ view was that the airport had a role to play in the “sub-regional” economy, which meant securing its future was “such an important thing”.
He added: “In doing that, it resolves all the uncertainty hanging over the company’s staff, and all the people who are based there. All the people flying in and out know the runway is not brilliant. They are safe, but they need a lot of looking after, which has not been cost-effective as of late. So we are able to remove that uncertainty now and then we can really go for it and unleash the potential that is there.”
Gloucester City Council leader Richard Cook said: “I see this investment by the councils as being incredibly important for the sub-region.
“It provides so many important, highskill jobs in the region and because of the additional confidence we are showing by making this investment, I think that will send outwards to businesses who also might be prepared or considering making investments in the airport or in the area outside the airport.
“So there are all sorts of opportunities that are opening up to us as a result of making this investment.
“But the most important thing is demonstrating confidence.”
Mr Hibberd said the airport’s focus was not property management and was not ignoring aviation, and described the deal as “a means to an end” for the airport.
He said: “If we had a huge bank balance, then we could just pay for the runway. But we have not. We came up with this deal and it needs for us to be able to stay in operation without having to keep running back to shareholders.
“We want to create this new business park, which will generate income, hopefully which will allow us to build up reserves in the future and not have to turn round to shareholders when we need to replace pieces of kit, and so forth. It does look like a property-led business, I suppose. But our hearts are all absolutely in aviation.”
Councillor Steve Jordan, of Cheltenham Borough Council, said: “We have worked as shareholders very much to take the company forward. Over the last few years, we started an in-principle review of what we do with the company, looking at whether it was right to have one.
“We felt it was of value to have one, not just as owners but also to the wider community. Particularly in terms of jobs and the economy, but also as assisting in tackling climate change. They are both the company’s investment and the hosts can help with the technology which will help us tackle climate change.”
In a statement, Karen Taylor, interim managing director of Gloucestershire Airport, said the funding gave it the goahead to make improvements that would boost its status as a “gateway for growth”.
She said it would also help it realise an ambition to bring about projects embracing alternative clean energy supplies and green technologies.
This is the most important thing to happen for the airport in the last 30 years Peter Hibberd